


Apples

by abbiemayx



Category: Divergent (Movies), Divergent (Movies) RPF, Divergent - All Media Types, Divergent Series - Veronica Roth
Genre: Abuse, Action/Adventure, Alcohol, Amity Faction, Crimes & Criminals, Danger, Dauntless Faction, Depression, Drama & Romance, Dystopia, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fear, Hospitals, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, Love, Medicine, Past Child Abuse, Past Sexual Abuse, Romance, Secrets, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-27
Updated: 2019-04-17
Packaged: 2019-06-17 06:46:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 14
Words: 60,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15455640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abbiemayx/pseuds/abbiemayx
Summary: "Not all apples are green." After a difficult time in Amity, Taura Daniels decides to move between the Factions, a decision that could land her in danger. With the help of her closest friend, she finds safety within the Dauntless faction. But when a certain leader begins to get on her nerve, will her worst fears and secrets be revealed? Or will they become unlikely friends? Eric/OC Peter/OC





	1. Not All Apples Are Green

'And this is the pit. The centre of life here at Dauntless.’ Four spoke proudly of his faction to Taura, a small smile playing on the corners of his mouth when he saw the girl stare in awe at the bustling crowds below her. ‘You like what you see?’   
‘Yeah. It's neat.’ She nods in approval flipping her flowing black ponytail behind her shoulder as she turned to face him. Green eyes met with brown eyes for a brief second before Four turned his eyes back to the pit.  
‘Come on, there's someone you need to meet.’ Four frowned slightly guiding Taura down the cold metal steps. ‘Now in order for you to stay undetected, you have to blend in here and the only way to do that is to put you through the same training we put the initiates through.’ He explained in a low whisper as he opened a door that was isolated from the rest of the camp.  
‘Hey Er-‘  
‘Who said you could come in?’ A dark and dangerous voice stopped him.  
‘It's important.’  
‘You would of told me by now if it was important.’  
‘But-‘  
‘I don't care.’  
‘I think you should.’  
‘Well I don't.’  
‘Taura, meet Eric.’ Four pushed Taura through the door way abruptly. Eric's dark eyes narrowed in her direction, observing her figure. She was much shorter than him, but still looked pretty well built,  
‘Whats that?’ Eric scoffed coldly waving his hand in her direction. Taura furrowed her brows at him and folded her arms across her chest.  
‘She is Taura, the private initiate I told you about.’ Four gave him a knowing glance, to achieve no result.  
‘Exactly. You told me she was a tough cookie. She looks like someone you brought straight out of factionless.’ Eric hissed in response. Lies. What he said was complete lies. Taura looked more like someone Four just pulled out of dauntless leadership. But of course, Eric refused to admit that.  
‘Oh gee thanks for the compliment…’ she rolled her eyes at him.  
‘I didn't tell you to speak.’ His harsh words rolled off his tongue easily and smoothily, like it was second nature.  
‘No you didn't.’  
‘I'm your leader. You speak when I tell you to speak and you shut up when I tell you to shut up. Orders are not optional.’ Eric scolded meeting her stern glare with one of his own. One that usually sends initiates shaking, but for this particular initiate, it did nothing.   
‘Well aren't you a hard nut.’ Taura snickered to aggravate him more. She enjoyed it. Pushing his buttons was fun for her. Through just one conversation she knew exactly how to annoy him, how to intimidate him. Even though he is putting up a strong defence, Taura knew that she was threat to Eric.  
‘You better watch that mouth of yours, Taura.’ Eric let her name linger on his tongue. ‘Training starts tomorrow. Be in the training ring for 6am. I don't take to kindly to people who are late.’ He turned around and began fiddling with the papers at his desk before turning to Four. ‘Get her out of my sight jack ass!’ Eric snarled, shooeing the pair away.

 

‘I can't believe you just did that to him.’ Four smirked, shutting the door behind him before continuing to walk.  
‘Why?’ Taura quirked an eyebrow at him, following him down a long damp corridor.  
‘Everyone is scared of him. He's a bully, a torturer. I would watch your back around Eric, he's unpredictable. You never know what his next move will be.’ He frowned stopping in his tracks and turning to face her. ‘Are you not scared of him?’  
‘No. I'm sure I can shrink his ego down a bit for you.’ Taura grinned at her trainer.  
‘You have a death wish!’ Four laughed, pushing open a large door leading to a canteen style space. As big as the room was, the amount of dauntless warriors made it seem tiny.

 

‘This is the Mess hall, where you eat and socialise with the other dauntless members.’ Four placed a firm hand on the middle of her back, guiding her through the large crowds. Many heads turned to her and looked her up and down, inspecting ‘the new meat’ as they would call it. Some would even wolf-whistle in her direction, and if they were lucky she would give them a wink or a slight chuckle. Four stopped in front of long table occupied by only three people.  
‘Taura, I’d like you to meet Tris and Christina, two of the best people you will meet.’ Four smiled waving his hand at the two girls in introduction who both smiled and waved politely at Taura. ‘And that's Peter, the worst person you will ever meet.’ Four frowned at the young man sat at the end of the wooden counter. Peter blatantly ignored him and began looking her up and down, taking in everything about her. Taura walked round the table and sat opposite him, doing the same and looking him up and down.  
‘Did Four tell you? I'm one of your trainers. So we’ll be spending a lot of time together.’ Peter smirked at her and sent her a cheeky wink.  
‘Hmm well you better be good then.’ She teased him in a slightly flirtatious manner. Four had squeezed in between her and Tris and was keeping a close eye on the dark haired trainer.  
‘Oh, I will.’ He smirked before Four sent him a deathly glare causing him to back down a little. ‘Where are you a fugitive from, then?’  
‘Amity’ she stated, not showing any emotion, glancing at four.  
‘So your like a peace and love type of girl then?’ He teased trying to act surprised. Taura scoffed at his remark.  
‘I don't fit under the stereotypes.’ She laughed, smirking at the group.  
‘What made you move to Dauntless then?’ Christina asked, picking up a hamburger with a fork.  
‘Same reason. The amity stereotype doesn't fit me.’ She looked back at Peter, locking eyes with him. ‘I'm quite a wild girl, I like danger and the rough side of life. So I'm basically the opposite of Amity.’ Stretching her leg out, she grazed her foot along the side of his leg, watching him bite his lip and turn away. She chuckled, she was a tease, a flirt. And she knew it. She enjoyed seeing men fall under her control; she loved being in power and breaking her stereotypes. That's why she never belonged within amity, being forced to treat everyone equally and to forgive people. Even with their values men always did the tougher jobs. She wanted to be the one doing the tougher jobs. Dauntless gave her that opportunity; she could be whoever she wanted with no questions, women could be leaders, they could kill people, fight. They could be dangerous. Dauntless.   
‘She's not joking either. She back-talked Eric earlier.’ Four snickered.   
‘Your kidding right?’ Christina laughed, shocked at the initiates achievement.   
‘And he didn't hang you off the chasm?!’ Tris exclaimed.  
‘No. But I have no doubts that he will. I don't plan on being his teachers pet.’   
‘He's gonna love you.’ Peter responded barely sarcastically receiving displeased glares from his companions. ‘What? Oh come on! If he hates all basic initiates who do everything he says then maybe he prefers someone who can give him a bit of challenge.’ Four and Tris looked up to see a large and muscular shadow cover Peter. ‘You know I bet he has a fetish for people like Taura. Happily lap you up in seconds.’ Peter stopped to see the raven haired girl sat opposite trying to stifle a laugh.  
‘Or not.’ Came the dark voice from above Peter. He cringed and wiped his pale hands over his face before turning to face Eric. ‘You know if you have a problem with the way I train people just say it to my face. Seen as Cander are so honest I would of thought it was easy for you.’ Eric snarled leaning in closer. He was about to say something else before his slim blue-grey eyes caught his initiate stifling a laugh. Eric walked slowly round the edge of the table not breaking his icy eyes away from her. He knelt down beside her, resting his arms on the table to look directly in her eyes. She smirks at him, looking him directly in his eyes as well, taunting him. It was working on him. Her flirtatious methods and wildly captivating eyes intimidated him. But he refused to let that show. He needed to make her feel that way.  
‘Is this amusing to you, initiate?’ he asked threateningly.  
‘It's really good to see you again, cheesecake.’ She told him playfully.  
‘You didn't answer my question.’ Eric snarled, a flame inside of him starting to spark. From the corner of his eye he could pick out Four watching him intensely.  
‘Oh, sorry. Yeah. Yeah I do.’ She grinned at him watching his jaw muscles clench.  
‘Care to tell me what's so amusing to you?’ Eric growled, his eyes darkening.  
‘Well I don't know about you, but that's pretty funny!’ She chuckled shoving her palm in his face. Eric scowled, not breaking their stare. Never had someone had the audacity to disparage him like that. Taura’s smug grin was still plastered on her face; the fake innocence caused anger to cloud his mind. Swiftly, Eric grabbed the hand, pinning it to her back causing her to land face first on the wooden table.  
‘Eric! That's enough!’ Four shouted loudly causing the canteen to fall silent.  
‘Shut it four!’ Eric snarled and leaned into Taura, ‘you put your hand on me again and I will ruin you.’ Eric spat, clenching her wrist tighter. Taura chuckled under her breath.  
‘Let her go.’ Four stated calmly after watching her wrist begin to go purple..  
‘I'm not a baby anymore Four. I'm perfectly capable of handling myself and this piss take.’ She remarked, rolling her eyes playfully at him. Another hand slammed into the back of neck in an attempt to stop her from speaking.  
‘You’re the only one looking like a piss take right now, smart mouth!’ Eric growled in her ear.  
‘You were so wrong about him being unpredictable….’ She sighed, smirking at Four who was watching Eric cautiously. After letting out another exasperated sigh, she swung at him. Using her free arm, she reached over and pulled his hand off her neck by twisting his at an awkward angle. Eric cried out in pain, letting go of his restraint on her other arm. He became disorientated: startled by the small girls incredible strength. Before Eric could react, Taura’s foot goes flying into his chest sending him crashing into the table behind him. Laughs and cheers could be heard as crowds of dauntless members surrounded the two, egging them to continue. Eric valued power and he wasn't going to let that be taken away by a Amity girl. Standing up again, he began to send his fist towards her face but it was quickly slapped away by Taura. He swung again, however was beaten to it by Taura, who sent her fist into his nose at full force. Once again, Eric stumbled backwards into the table. He stared at the young girl in shock and anger as he wiped away a string of blood trickling from his right nostril.  
‘Taura!’ Four called stepping in between the pair, preventing them from further injury. ‘That's enough, okay.’ He told her firmly before guiding her away from the scene.   
‘I look forward to seeing you tomorrow, cheesecake!’ She giggled, looking back at his defeated stance. Four pulled on her wrist causing her to walk faster. A hand squeezed her shoulder tightly and spun her around. It was Eric. Taura yanked her hand free from Fours grip. The adrenaline rushing through her once again. She lifted her fist. However, his fist touched her face first. Blackness.

Taura slipped in and out of consciousness. Her eyes opened but were soon closed again. She heard a familiar voice for a brief moment.  
‘…knocked out...’  
Everything fell silent again.

Taura’s eyes peeled open, bright lights shining into her eyes. She squinted when a cold, icy pressure was added to her already throbbing head.   
‘Not going to disturb the peace are you again?’ A masculine voice waking her up fully. ‘I thought one of Amity rituals was non-violence but um…’ the voice lifted her hand to her face. It was bright purple and swollen. ‘Maybe I was wrong.’ The voice finished.  
Taura moved her eyes around the unfamiliar room to find the voice. It took a while to find it. Her eyes landed on Peter who was concentrating on caring for her injured wrist. She watched intensely as he strung long bandages tightly round her wrist. ‘You should be careful tomorrow. He's gonna give you a really a tough time in training.’ He tide a knot on the end of the bandage and looked up to face her, a glimpse of concern in his eyes.  
‘Who?’ Taura asked him quizzically. She ran through her mind to find any reason for what he just said.  
‘Eric.’ He stared calmly. The name clicked inside her mind and the events came flooding back.  
‘Ohhh.’ She sighed, letting out a slight chuckle.  
‘Yeah. You broke his nose.’ Peter smiled, chuckling him self.  
‘I told you I don't fit into the stereotypes.’  
‘You certainly got some nasty bruises just to prove it to me.’ He leaned in closer to her, looking into her eyes intently, searching for something.  
‘I wasn't trying to prove anything. Your such a flirt, Peter.’ Taura rolled her eyes at him.  
‘Hey! You can talk! What was your foot up to in the Mess earlier?’ Peter smirked, adjusting the ice pack on her left temple.  
‘You didn't seem to have any complaints.’ Taura quirked an eyebrow at him and smirked.  
‘If I did you might of punched me. Can't have you braking another nose, can I?’ He removed his hand from the ice pack, purposefully grazing his fingers along her jawline as they left her face. His cold touch sent shivers down her spine.   
‘Your so cocky. Do you ever take a break?’  
‘When I'm asleep.’   
‘Go to bed then.’ She smiled at him playfully. Peter began to chuckle loudly, shaking his head from side to side. ‘What? What's so funny?!’  
‘You’re in my bed.’ He grinned at her, searching her eyes once again. Taura’s eyes diverted away from his, wondering the room. This was the first time she realised she was somewhere unfamiliar.  
‘Oh.’ She sighed in realisation. A wave of pain encircled her head like a rubber band, squeezing it tighter. She winced in pain and sprung up into a sitting position, clutching her temples. ‘Shit.’   
‘Hurts like a bitch doesn't it?’ Peter smirked and pressed his hand gently against her shoulder, forcing her to lay back down. ‘You probably have a migraine. So I would stay still. Or do I have to make you stay still?’ He flashed her a cheeky grin, letting his eyes lock with hers again.   
‘And how do you plan on doing that?’   
‘Well-‘  
‘I thought I told you to take her to the clinic?’ Four barked, barging into Peters apartment. Peter jolted up away from Taura.  
‘There wouldn't of been a bed for 4 hours plus Eric was bound to turn up.’ He reasoned with Four.  
‘Your not a trained medic.’ Four scowled at him with annoyance,  
‘She's awake isn't she?’ Peter remarked pointing his hand at her.   
‘That's not really the point Peter.’ Four sighed. ‘How is she anyways?’   
‘Not too bad. I'm pretty sure Eric had dislocated her wrist, if not fractured it. She has a mild concussion, seems slightly disorientated. But other than that and a migraine, she's fine.’ Peter sent a smile to Taura and moved his hand to rub her forehead.  
Four cleared his throat ‘Well… I will take over from here then.’ He stated averting his eyes from them. ‘Can you walk Taura?’ He questioned, walking to the side of the bed.  
‘Yeah.’ She stared curtly, rolling her eyes.  
‘That's a no then.’ Four laughed and picked her up in his arms. ‘Come on, let's get you out of here.’ Taura groaned but didn't try to recoil from his grip, instead she simply rested her head against his chest as he began to walk towards the door.  
‘Hey four.’ Peter called, walking up to him and scribbling something onto a small sheet of paper. ‘Give this to her when she's less disorientated. In case she ever needs to… let her anger out.’   
‘I'm right here you know!’ Taura shouted up at him, then began laughing loudly.  
‘Yeah but your all giddy. I don't want anyone getting the wrong idea.’ He smirked. Four snatched the piece of paper out his hands and scammed his eyes over it.  
‘Peter Hayes (the cocky one)  
Room 104  
Number: 024963222   
You should call it,   
If you need to let your anger out. ;)’  
He looked up at Peter then back down at the paper before scrunching it into a ball and stuffing it in his pocket.  
‘I think that's exactly what you want.’ 

‘Wakey Wakey eggs and bakey.’ Four shook the sleeping girl’s shoulder. Taura stirred slightly but rolled onto her side and fell back to sleep. ‘She's always been a deep sleeper…’ he muttered to himself walking over to a cupboard. He scrambled through it for a while before picking up an air horn. ‘I knew this would come in handy some day.’ He shook the canister in his left hand as he walked back to where she was sleeping on his bed. ‘I'm gonna end up like Eric after this.’ He told himself before pressing down on the horn. Taura jumped upwards from her sleep screaming and panting. ‘Good morning to you too.’ Four teased, grinning wickedly down at her.  
‘Four! You fucking bastard!’ She cursed, slapping him playfully on the leg.  
‘Ow!’ Four whined false-heartedly.  
‘Oh a real man wouldn't of felt that!’ Taura laughed at him.  
‘You ready to face Eric again?’ Four asked, looking at her concerned.   
‘Of course I am. He doesn't scare me!’ Taura reminded him, half laughing.  
‘He's going to be really tough on you today. You pissed him off. And now he's going to piss you off.’ He told her seriously. ‘I’m gonna be in there with you, so I can keep him at bay. I promise I won't let him try to hurt you.’  
‘You don't have to baby me Four.’ Taura scolded, standing up off the bed in front of him. He towered over her small figure, she had to crane her neck just to look at his face.   
‘Im sorry, I just don't want anyone to hurt you again.’ Four apologised, stroking her left arm.  
‘And no one will. Look, I know you feel guilty about what happened.’ Taura let out a loud sigh and took his hands in hers. ‘But you can't change what happened by babying me 24/7.’ Sadness was evident in her green eyes as she turned her focus to rubbing small circles in Fours palms.  
‘I know, I wish that I could of done more to protect you from him.’   
‘But you couldn't of! Anyway, I'm not in Amity anymore, I'm in dauntless now.’ She smiled at him. But Four knew that that smile was not sincere, nor was it one of happiness.  
‘He could still find you.’   
‘He won't. I'm safe here.’ Taura smiled at him again, only weaker. Four wandered her eyes with his, but to only find uncertainty and fear; something he's only seen in her once before. He merely nodded and wrapped his strong arms around her, embracing her. She did the same, and wrapped her smaller arms around his waist, burying her head in his chest.  
‘I love you.’ He whispered kindly and planted a small kiss on her forehead.  
‘I love you too.’ She replied, her voice muffled in his chest.

Four opened the door to the training room slowly, expecting Eric to bark at either of them for being 3 minutes late. But there was nothing. Silence remained in the ware house style training room.  
‘Hello??’ Four called with no response. ‘So much for not liking his initiates being late…’ He remarked making Taura chuckle.  
‘Oh hey guys!’ A cheerful voice spoke from behind them. Both them turned around to face the voice. It was Peter, striding confidently towards them.  
‘Peter? I wasn't expecting to see you here.’ Four spoke calmly, though slightly irritated by his presence. ‘Where's Eric?’  
‘He said he had to take care of something so he sent me down to help until he comes back.’ Peter explained cooly. ‘I bet he doesn't actually have to take care of anything and is just to scared to face Taura after yesterday.’ He snickered.  
‘He's such a pussy.’ Taura rolled her eyes clicking her tongue.  
‘How are you doing?’ Peter smiled at her, looking at the side of her head which was heavily bruised.  
‘I'm doing well actually. Thank you.’ She replied kindly giving him a warm smile back.  
‘Well we better get started…’ Four told the two before shutting the door behind them. ‘I've decided to train you in a different order than usual.’ Four explained to Taura, walking over to a table layed with various throwing knives. ‘Usually we start with hand to hand combat but… your injured. So no fighting.’ He picked up three knives. ‘But you can throw some knives.’ Taura let out a displeased groan. She loved to fight. She loved to watch how much damage her hands could do. But also the peace and love they could bring to a world which is seemingly damaged and unsafe.  
‘Oh come on its just bruised. A few punches won't hurt.’ Taura threw her hands to the side in exasperation.  
‘We’re not letting you brake another nose.’ Peter told her firmly. ‘Just throw some knives, I promise it's just as fun.’  
‘Ugh fine…’ she rolled her eyes picking up three knives and clipping two to her belt. She flicked the other one in her hand testing the weight and sharpness.  
‘Now when your throwing knives, you want to get you’re aim right. If you want them dead then you need it to hit vital organs. To throw it accurately, you extend your non dominant arm to point at where you want-‘ Four stopped his demonstration when a knife flew precisely into the centre of the circular target. Four stared at Taura in awe, then at the target, then back at Taura, then back at the target. He turned his eyes to Peter who raised a black brow at him.  
‘H-h-how…the…w-where…’ four stuttered, looking at Taura quizzacly. ‘D-did you throw that knife?’ He asked slowly, pointing at the damaged target.  
‘How do you think I chopped apples?’ Taura replied, grinning at the pair and picked up another knife.  
‘At a safe distance, holding the apple and cutting it carefully, with no throwing.’ Peter remarked picking a knife up himself and inspected the blade.  
‘Ew that's boring.’ She cringed walking away from the target.  
‘Where are you going?’ Peter questioned watching her walk away gripping a knife tightly.  
‘Sometimes in Amity you can't get close to the apple, so you have to fire from a distance.’ She explained, a hint of anger evident in her eyes. Taura stopped when she had reached the back wall, from here the circle target looked more like a fly on the wall. She raised the throwing knife above her head and outstretched her other arm. She took a steady breath, adjusting her grip on the knife. Flinging her arm forward, the knife flew out her hand at full speed. The wind whistled as the knife flew through it, straight past Four and Peter and into the centre of the target. Taura began strolling back towards them with a small smirk tugging on the corners of her mouth.  
‘You know, I'm beginning to think this apple is a metaphor for a person.’ Peter smirked walking over to the target and inspecting the knives impelled into the wall.  
‘Maybe it is. Just because Amity preaches non- violence, it doesn't mean they do anything about it when someone doesn't follow it. If you think Amity are all just happy little butterflies living a safe, harmless, hate-less life then you need a huge wake up call. They’re actually just hollow shells filled with hate and harm and violence. That Amity politeness is just a realistic mask.’ Taura’s eyes began to well with hot tears as she took another knife in her hand. ‘Peter, you should move.’ He stared at her blankly for a few moments completely confused by her sudden out burst of rage. ‘Now!’ She barked at him, snapping out of his trance he moved quickly to stand next to Four.  
‘What's got her all fired up?’ Peter whispered to Four, keeping his eyes on her. Another knife went flying into another target. And another. And another.  
‘You really want to watch your back in there you know.’ Another knife. ‘One minute it's all happy dancing and the next-‘ and another. ‘-someone comes and stabs you right in the back!’ She was about to throw another knife when Four’s hand clamped down on hers. She tried to shake him off of her but his grip was too tight.  
‘Taura! Stop!’ Four shouted at her. However the words didn't process in her brain. She continued to try and free herself from Four but with no success. He began to try and pry the knife out of her hand, gripping the blade to stop her from hurting herself. ‘give me the knife. Give me the knife.’ He spoke to her calmly, looking into her eyes. Her breathing began to become less erratic as the rage began to subside. Her grip became loose on the knife and Four removed the blade.   
‘If I see you crying again, your out.’ An in-mistakable voice spoke into her ear. Taura turned her head to face the voice to see Eric glaring at her. His face unreasonably close to hers.  
‘Don't you fucking dare threaten me.’ She spat at him, eyebrows furrowed. If she could, she would break another one of his facial bones, but four was still holding onto her tightly.  
‘And don't you fucking dare use that tone with me, slut.’ Eric’s cold voice said the last word icier. His eyes narrowed in on her, exchanging his eyes from Taura, to Four and then to Peter.  
‘What did you just call me?!’ The burning fire inside of her had only subsided for a few seconds before it was re-lit.  
‘Oh don't act so innocent. You know where you've been.’ Eric growled, met with confused stares. ‘So it was a secret then?’  
‘What the hell are you on about?’ Peter asked him walking up to the group.  
‘I thought you and Four would know best considering your dicks have been inside of her.’ He snarled at Peter. Taura’s face relaxed, looking at the floor. She glanced at the three of them before looking at the door.  
‘Excuse me.’ She whispered, walking away towards the door, making sure to shove Eric accidentally before leaving.  
‘Where do you think your going?’ Eric shouted after her but his answer was given by the door slamming. He stared at the circular target that was covered in knives, he smiled to himself, slightly impressed with the accuracy. ‘What is she? Bipolar or something?’   
‘She's not Bipolar. She has a short fuse. Gets sparked up easily. But I suppose anyone has a short fuse around you.’ Four remarked turning away from him. Eric's pierced brow twitched as he felt a pang of guilt from his words.  
‘You both know that trainer/initiate relationships are forbidden here. Right?’ Eric raised an eyebrow at the pair.  
‘I'm not sleeping with Taura. Can't necessarily speak for Four, but it's not really my business.’ Peter remarked, shrugging his shoulders dismissively.  
‘Well I heard that she was in your dorm for over 4 hours yesterday… I wonder what you were both doing?’ Eric smirked at Peter maliciously.  
‘I was taking care of her. You knocked her out, remember?’  
‘Oh yeah.’ Eric chuckled, ‘so I guess you wrapped her wrist up then. What is it, broken? Fractured?’  
‘Don't give yourself the glory. It was only a dislocation, it will be better in a week.’ Four growled lowly not bothering to look his way.   
‘So… is it true that your sleeping with her? I saw you taking her into your dorm last night.’ Eric moved to stand behind Four, glaring down at him as Four collected the knives.  
‘No. no ones sleeping with her, if it's even any of your concern.’  
‘As a leader, the safety of my initiates is my concern.’   
‘And that's why you tried to beat her up then.’ Four turned to meet his glare.  
‘I was teaching her authority. She stepped out of line. I had to put her back in that line.’ He grinned.  
‘I think it was the other way round.’  
‘Your very protective of her.’ Eric scanned his eyes with his own. Four turned his own to his feet.  
‘Yeah well, she had a difficult past. I just want to make sure she doesn't have to relive it.’ Four told him before storming out.

Taura dangled her legs off the edge of the roof, letting the wind blow through her hair. She loved heights. It was as if no one could hurt her when she was up so high, no one below her could ever reach her. In a world so complicated, being up high made everything look so small and simple.   
‘I'm still trying to think of a nickname for you.’ A voice interrupted her thoughts. She turned to find Peter crouching next to her. She gave him a weak smile in acknowledgement. ‘I give everyone nicknames based upon their worst qualities. Like I call Tris, Stiff, because that's what she is. Christina, Big mouth, she has no filter, like word vomit everywhere. Four, Four, he has four never disappearing fears, but everyone calls him that. Eric, deadman, literally everything is just dead, no emotion.’ He laughed, ‘usually it's quite easy, but I can't find a single bad quality about you.’  
‘I'm short tempered.’ She reminded him.  
‘That's a good quality to have in dauntless. It doesn't take to long for you to do decent damage in a fight.’  
‘I'm a slut.’ She gulped back a lump in a throat.   
‘You’re not a slut. Don't listen to Eric. He believes what ever he's told.’   
‘Yeah… well he’s not the first person to call me that.’ She half smiled, watching a group of Amity walk below her. She wondered whether it was any of her old friends, but quickly shook the thought away. Peter watched her, noticing her tear stained face.  
‘You skipped two meals.’ Peter stated making her face him.  
‘I wasn't hungry.’   
‘I was cander. I'm good at lie detecting.’ He half-joked.  
‘Sorry… Eric really pissed me off, I needed to cool off.’ She looked back to the ground below her. Peter paused for a minute, looking at her saddened face. ‘She had a difficult past. I just want to make sure she doesn’t have to relive it.’ Four’s words rang in his head. They intrigued him, he wanted to know what happened to her, what made her so defensive and angry.  
‘Four mentioned that you had a difficult past.’ He spoke quietly and gently. His words grabbed Taura’s attention, she turned to face him but swiftly snapped her head away in embarrassment. ‘I don't know what happened… but I'm really sorry that it did have to happen to you.’ He gave her a concerned smile and placed a hand on her back. Her muscles tensed under the unfamiliar touch of his hand causing him to retract it.  
‘Not all apples are green, Peter.’ She spoke quietly, her voice cracking.  
‘Apples!’ Peter shouted, snapping his fingers at her.  
‘What?’ Taura chuckled, but didn't bother looking his way.  
‘That's your nickname, apples!’ Peter laughed, grinning at her. ‘You always talk about apples.’  
‘Is that such a bad quality?’ She asked, wiping a single tear from her cheek with the cuff of her jacket. She felt Peter’s hand cup her face, turning her to face him. He stoked a lone tear away from under her eyes. He felt compelled to cheer her up, become close to her. He didn't feel threatened by her instead he felt drawn to her.  
‘It is when there are no apples in Dauntless.’ He smiled at her sincerely, connecting his eyes to hers. They stayed sat there for a few moments in silence, enjoying the peace. Peter let go of her cheek and jumped up off the edge of the roof to stand. He held his hand out to her.‘Come on Apples. Lets get you a tattoo.’


	2. The Punching Bag

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ###

‘So it's like a tradition for dauntless to get tattoos in initiation then?’ Taura raised an eyebrow at the black ink on the back of his neck. The shirt line seemed to cut off the majority of the tattoo and she wondered whether the remaining fractions held any meaning or were just there for decoration.   
‘Yeah. I guess it's a way of belonging. I feel sorry for those that failed initiation, though. Must have been pretty embarrassing walking into factionless with a dauntless tattoo on your skin.’ Peter shuddered slightly. The halls they walked through began to get narrower and the smell of damp walls became stronger. Taura let her fingers trace a crack in the rocks as she followed closely behind Peter. She raised her fingers off the rock and lifted them to her face. Dry and pale skin was now wet and a muddy brown colour. Wet grass. It smelt like wet grass. A smell she hated for so many reasons. But a smell which filled her with nostalgia.  
‘Who was in your initiation group?’ Taura asked calmly. Peter froze in his tracks and looked at the floor. ‘Sorry that wasn't right for me to ask.’   
‘Tris and Christina.’ He turned to her. Something was in his eyes as he spoke. Guilt or sadness, she couldn't tell. However both emotions link so easily together, maybe it was both. ‘Al, but he killed himself. Will, but he got shot. Edward,’ he paused and stared at her, his mouth agape. ‘Well, he got stabbed, Myra left with him. And my two friends, Molly and Drew. But…’ he paused again. ‘They failed initiation.’ His voice cracked a little.  
‘Wow… Quite a bunch then.’ Taura chuckled a little, but even her laugh came out saddened.  
‘Hmm.’ Peter nodded slowly.  
‘How did he get shot?’ She asked curiously. Curiosity wasn’t something she usually feels but this time it overwhelmed her.  
‘The attack on Abnegation.’ He simply stated, his face blank and placid. ‘A lot of dauntless were killed by accident.’  
‘How can they be killed by accident?’ Peter paused after her question, not sure how to explain what happened.  
‘That's not for you to worry about… at least not yet.’ He responded slowly, biting the inside of his cheek just as slowly. ‘Now let's get that tattoo.’ Hesitantly, he turned on his heel and continued walking. The halls became narrrower the more they walk. At the end there was a dim light glowing through a glass panel door. 

Peter pushed the door open with his left hand. The hinges emitted a loud creek as it slid across the cavern floor, hitting pebbles as it went. The parlour was fairly small but large enough to incorporate a fully functioning parlour. All four walls were littered with various tattoo designs, hung up wonky on the walls. In the centre of the room were two stands and a recliner style chair, one occupied by a tall woman with long dark hair. 

Taura explored the room, inspecting the tattoos as she went. A couple caught her eye, like the dauntless flames or a hawk. But neither felt right to her. Almost everyone had the dauntless flames somewhere on their skin, in plain sight or not and Taura didn't want to be almost everyone.   
‘How about we get my name tattooed on your ass.’ Peter remarked, nudging her in the stomach with his elbow.  
‘Hey! I only just met you, let's not start getting drunk tattoos this early.’ Taura joked, slapping him on the arm in return. ‘Oh and by the way, if you do that to me when I'm asleep, I will tattoo an actual ass onto your forehead.’ Peter laughed hysterically at her warning.   
‘You know when I saw you beat up Eric, I thought I was getting myself in some deep shit by talking to you.’ Taura let out a small chuckle at his comment. ‘But your actually really fun to hang out with, Apples.’ Peter smiled warmly at her, admiring her emerald eyes. They reminded him of the grass that grew in the Amity fields. Bright and luscious.   
‘Your not to bad yourself, Peter.’ Taura smiled back, her face calm and warm.

Taura continued to scan the tattoo’s on the wall, running her fingers over a few. Until one in the corner caught her eye. A red apple with a knife stabbed in the middle, drawing drips of crimson blood.  
‘Interesting.’ Peter said cooly, shrugging his shoulders. ‘But not surprising after this mornings training session.’ He reasoned, getting a small smile out of the girl.  
‘Where should I get it?’ She asked, too busy looking at the design to face him. Peter stared thoughtfully at her, tapping his chin before placing his hand gently on her left shoulder blade. The same place he had placed it earlier.  
‘There.’   
‘Interesting. But not surprising.’ She mocked him playfully. Peter laughed silently at her, his broad shoulders shaking up and down as he removed his hand from her shoulder. 

Peter ran his hand over the apple on Taura’s shoulder slowly, tracing the edges of the knife with his finger tips. His touch was cold but soft.   
‘Does it look okay?’ Taura asked, looking over her shoulder at him. He smiled at her, looking into her eyes once again.  
‘It looks great.’ He smiled, moving his hand away. Taura slipped her shirt back on and ruffled her hair.  
‘Hey. You’re the girl who fucked Eric's face up, right?’ A female voice asked, coming up behind her. Taura turned around, facing a tall but slim woman. She had smooth olive skin and green eyes, complimented by her dreadlocked brown hair that fell to the middle of her back.  
‘Umm…’ Taura murmured, not sure how to respond.  
‘This is Tori, she's one of the tattoo artists here.’ Peter spoke up from behind Taura. ‘When she's not here she works alongside Four in the control room.’   
‘Thank you. Peter.’ Tori stated coldly, frowning.  
‘This is Apples.’ Peter introduced waving his hand at Taura. Tori exchanged confused looks with them both.  
‘Apples? Did your parents hate you or something?’ Tori remarked.  
‘It's Taura.’ Taura laughed, rolling her eyes.  
‘So it is you.’ She smiled. ‘Four’s friend. He told me all about you.’   
‘Yeah, that's me.’   
‘Eric payed us a visit after you broke his nose. He was not a happy bunny.’ She sighed.  
‘Well someone had to put him back in his place.’   
‘He never used to be such a dick you know.’ Tori frowned, putting her hands inside her pockets.  
‘Really?’   
‘He used to be Erudite.’ Peter interrupted.  
‘He doesn't seem like an Erudite.’ Taura cocked an eyebrow.  
‘Exactly. He has tried his best to rid himself of his past. Faction before blood. He takes it very seriously. Maybe too seriously.’ Tori turned around and began packing away various ink pots. ‘Before he came to dauntless, he was actually a pretty genuine guy. Friendly and funny. Now, I guess all he cares about is power and promotion.’   
‘He’s up for promotion?’   
‘No. but he wants to be.’ Tori sat on top of one of the benches. ‘He's not all bad. He just needs someone to bring out his softer side.’   
‘I think your being too optimistic there, Tori. He's only fun when he's drunk.’ Peter scoffed.  
‘There's 2 sides to everyone. You should know that best out of all us, Peter.’ Tori scolded, sending him a cold glare. Peter shrunk slightly under the look he was given.   
‘No offence, but I really don't think I'm capable of making Eric change all that much.’ Taura shrugged, shoving her hands into her pockets. ‘I mean I changed the shape of his nose, but that was fairly easy. Changing his personality probably won't be.’  
‘I know. But your not scared to stand up to him and knock him down a few pegs. It may just.’ She paused, thinking of the right way to put it. ‘Happen.’  
‘By accident?’   
‘Maybe.’   
‘I doubt.’   
‘See there it is.’ Tori pointed her finger at Taura.  
‘There's what?’  
‘That stubbornness. You stand your guard. That's a threat to Eric.’ 

‘Tonight's been fun, we should hang out again sometime.’ Taura smiled at Peter as they reached Fours dorm. It was approaching midnight and the halls were empty. Her and Peter were the only ones left walking around on this level. Orange lights attempted to shed light into the halls but over half were broken or were too dim to have any effect. Peter stood under one that actually worked, the orange hew exaggerating his features. His green angelic eyes. Thin angelic lips pulled into an angelic smile. Everything about him looked angelic.   
‘Of course, Apples.’ He nudged his shoulder towards her. ‘Hey, next Thursday, me and couple other friends are going to the Pit at night. You know, get a little pissed, muck around. I was thinking maybe you can tag along? It’ll be fun!’ He offered.  
‘Sure.’ She chuckled at his request.  
‘Well, I guess I will see you around then.’ Peter nodded and started to turn on his heel.  
‘Peter.’   
‘Hmm?’ Taura lifted herself onto the tip of her toes and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him into a tight hug. He stumbled a little. He wasn't used to hugs and certainly wasn't prepared to be pulled down to her height, which was a good 4 inches lower. Steadying himself on the wall with his right hand, he wrapped his other arm round her waist, pulling her in closer. Peter wasn't usually the hugging type, but this one felt comforting.  
‘Thank you for cheering me up tonight. And for playing doctor yesterday.’ Taura thanked, hugging him a little tighter.   
‘Oh…um it's nothing… really.’ It's been a while since anyone has thanked him for anything. The two words are almost foreign to him. They stayed like that for a while. Peter’s arm round Taura’s waist. Taura’s arms around Peters neck.  
‘Umm Peter…’  
‘Yeah?’  
‘My feet aren't on the floor.’   
‘…oh…’ Peter sighed, unaware that he had suspended her mid-air. Placing her back onto her feet, he unravelled himself from her. ‘Sorry.’ Another word that was almost foreign to him. At least, one that is foreign to come out of his mouth.  
‘It's okay. Being small really doesn't work to my advantage.’ She chuckled. ‘I will see you around Peter.’   
‘Yeah. Look after yourself, Apples.’

‘Where the hell have you been all day?!’ Four scolded as Taura entered the dorm. ‘It's nearly midnight. You skipped two meals!’   
‘Eric pissed me off so I went to the roof.’ Taura shrugged.  
‘For 18 hours?!’   
‘Well, no. Until like, 6pm.’  
‘And then after that?’ his questions kept coming like bullets from a gun. Taura still questioned why he took on such a parenting character around her. Ever since she came to dauntless he's been overly protective of her.  
‘I was with Peter.’ She stated calmly, untying her shoe laces.  
‘With Peter? Doing what?’ Four quirked an eyebrow and tilted his head, like a dog does when it's confused.  
‘Just hanging out. What's the problem?’ She half laughed at him, annoyed at his questioning,  
‘What's the problem?! You left training early, skipped two meals, hung around with Peter until midnight and didn't call or text me!’ He ranted, throwing his arms around.  
‘Your not my father, Four! What do you have against Peter anyway?’   
‘He's a bad person, you shouldn't trust him or become friendly with him. He will hurt you.’   
‘Peter’s not that bad! He's a really nice guy if you get to know him.’ Taura reasoned with him, to no result.  
‘I have got to know him Taura! He’s a manipulative dick!’ Four clenched his fists at his sides, feeling the heat of anger rise through him.  
‘Okay, so he's made some mistakes in the past but so have you!’ Taura spoke truthfully to him, raking a hand through her dark locks in fustration.  
‘It's not the same! I don't want you getting too attached to him!’   
‘He's just a friend!’ Taura shouted at him.  
‘Yeah but a friend you will surely sleep with!’ Four turned away from her, pacing around the kitchen. Taura’s facial expression dipped. A look of hurt and anger covered her pale skin. ‘I saw you with him yesterday at lunch, you were all over him! Maybe Eric is right about you. You’re a slut! You would befriend anyone for sex!’ he shouted at her, using Eric's words in harsh response. Taura felt a burning in her eyes as a pool of tears formed in them. Four let out heavy breaths, cooling himself down. He moved his eyes over to Taura, seeing her broken face. A wave of guilt hitting him like a tsunami would hit a wall. ‘Taura… I… I'm sorry. I didn't mean that.’   
‘Right. Of course you didn't.’ A single tear left her eye, rolling down her cheek painfully slow.  
‘I didn't. I was angry… I didn't know what I was saying.’  
‘Do you always say things like that when your angry?’ She questioned letting more tears fall from her eyes.  
‘No. of course not.’   
‘So just me then?’ she bit the inside of her cheek. Four stood with his mouth agape, he didn't know what to say.‘It's nice to know who my friends are.’ Taura turned on her heel to leave, heading to the door in fury.  
‘Taura…wait!’ He called, moving to stop her. Slam. The door shut before he could reach her. He stared at the door, debating whether to go after her, his hand poised on the handle, waiting for his mind to make a decision. He nodded to himself, removing his hand off the door in a hesitant move, sighing to himself.

The punching bag swung backwards and forwards as Taura let her anger out on it, it took it all with no questions or fighting back. Something was finally listening to her. Even though it couldn't hear her, it allowed her to voice her anger in ways that were easier than words. Tears had dried to the pale skin on her face, her eyes raw and blood-shot. It was 5am. However the lack of light in the training room made it look and feel like it was still midnight. She hadn't slept and dark circles were beginning to form under her green orbs.   
‘5am. Wow your early.’ Eric's voice. She groaned not bothering to look at him. She continued throwing her fists at the punching bag. The skin covering the knuckles were coated in a thin layer of blood and sweat. Eric watched her carefully, noticing how exasperated her breathing was, the purple bags under her eyes, her skin almost the colour of a freshly washed bed sheet. ‘How long have you been down here?’   
‘I'm already in a foul mood with Four. Don't you start.’ Taura hissed at him, still not turning her eyes to him. Eric leant against the supporting pillar next to her, crossing his muscular arms across his broad chest.  
‘How long have you been here?’ he repeated.  
‘Don't act like you care, Eric.’ She spat. She continued to punch the bag, her hits becoming sloppy and weak.  
‘How long have you been here?’ He repeated again, his voice becoming bored.  
‘I don't know. Didn't see what time I got here.’ Eric looked at her thoughtfully for a few seconds.  
‘By the looks of you, you've been here too long.’ He remarked rolling his eyes. ‘Take a break.’  
‘I don't need a break.’ She continued throwing sloppy punches. ‘Besides I thought the objective was to push our bodies to the breaking point.’   
‘It is. But yours is already past the breaking point…literally.’ He moved his cold eyes from her bruised face to her bruised wrist at a fast pace, his expression not faltering.   
‘could say the same about you, right?’ she smirked at the sight of the white plaster over the bridge of his crooked nose.   
‘Don't turn this on me.’ He grunted, sending a cold glare her way. The piercings above his brow glinted under dim light.  
‘I'm simply making a valid point.’  
‘Sure you are, pansy cake.’  
‘Sure I am, Erudite.’ Taura mocked, walking away towards the target boards in the far of the room. She lifted herself on top of a bench covered with rows of throwing knife. Picking one up, she gently tapped a finger on the tip of the blade repeatedly. Eric watched her with steady eyes, the blade continuously touching her finger caused a burning inside of him.  
‘What do you mean by that?’ He quirked an eyebrow, walking towards her, painfully slow. Each footstep making a crackling sound as his shoes crunched against the loose pebbles.  
‘You’re an Erudite.’   
‘Was.’ He corrected spitefully. ‘How do you know that anyway?’ He stopped in front of her, a moderate distance away from her.  
‘The piercings above your brow are blue. Doesn't that give it away.’ She told a white lie. But it didn't matter, she's not Candour. She knew that if she mentioned Tori’s name, both of them will be in shit.  
‘Your starting to sound like Erudite yourself.’ He raised his pierced brow at her. ‘Got any secrets you want to get off your chest?’ his face turned cold, his steel grey eyes burning holes into her own. She cocked her head to the side, her black locks following closely.  
‘Secrets? I’m not Erudite born if that's what you mean?’ she questioned. She had some pretty big secrets, but none she felt would be of interest to him.  
‘No that's not what I mean.’ He sighed, still burning holes into her eyes.   
‘Then what do you mean?’   
‘What were your aptitude results?’ Eric shuffled on his feet a bit. He glanced at the floor.  
‘I thought we weren't meant to tell anyone.’   
‘You’ve already chose your faction, nobody cares anymore dumbass.’ He groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. ‘I take back what I said about sounding like an Erudite.’  
‘Alright, no need to get cocky.’ Taura hopped herself down from the bench. Now it was her turn to look up at him. ‘It was dauntless, if you must know.’ She glared and barged past him, making sure to accidentally walk into his arm.  
‘But you stayed in Amity?’  
‘No shit Sherlock.’  
‘What made you leave?’ Taura paused in her tracks. She turned to face him once more. Her secret. Her biggest secret.  
‘Are you gonna write my biography or something?’ She spat, sending him a harsh glare. Her figure was small and dainty compared to Eric's. But in these harsh moments like this, her eyes made her seem so much taller. Even to Eric. The glare in her green orbs was like morse code to warn him to keep his distance. Eric felt intimidated, this glare was something he couldn't defeat with one of his own.  
‘No.’  
‘Good.’ She held her glare and firm stance. It was her job to make sure he would never set foot down that path again. He can't know. No one can know.  
‘It's just, Four mentioned something about a difficult past.’   
‘And you wanted to know what he meant by that?’ she folded her arms over her toned abs. ‘see what I mean by-‘ she was interrupted by a ringing in her jean pocket. Eric's eyes wondered to the pocket. He raised a brow, everyone he knew in dauntless wouldn't of even bothered to think about the shift they were about to face let alone bother to ring anyone. ‘Fuck. I bet you anything this is Four playing mummy’s and daddy’s with me.’ She slipped her fingers into her pocket, pulling out a phone about as thin as a disc. Her eyes locked hesitantly on the screen.   
Adam is calling…  
Answer Decline.  
‘S-sorry… umm, I gotta take this.’ She stuttered, her brows furrowed in anxiety, confusion, anger; she couldn't tell.   
‘Be quick…’ Eric growled lowly, still eyeing the device now poised against her ear. She ignored him, concentrating on the voice coming through the phone.  
‘Why the fuck are you ringing me at this time?!- I’m busy- no I'm not coming back- I can't- you know why I left! – what? - that's impossible, she was fine last week – okay- I-I understand- see you then.’ She hung up. He eyes pondered over the screen for a while, before moving to Eric, he was leant against the bench, flipping a knife carelessly in a hand.  
‘What was that all about?’ he asked flippantly.  
‘I have to go.’ Taura responded quietly, slipping the phone in her pocket once more.  
‘Where?’  
‘None of your damn business.’   
‘Don't use that tone with me.’ He scolded like a teacher does to their students. Taura turned away, beginning to walk towards the light coming through the wooden door frame –of course, the door was no longer there. ‘How long will you be?’   
‘An hour at the most.’ She replied calmly yet stressfully, jogging out the training room. Part of Eric wanted to follow her. To see where her feet are taking her. To see where that phone call is taking her. But that's craving for knowledge; something he promised to rid himself of. 

Lunchtime. Peak time in the Mess Hall. The dauntless swap over for shifts halfway through the 24 hour periods. The night shift coming back from the fence, the control room, the factionless sector. Dauntless swarmed the open space like fish in a sea. Peter sat alone at a bench in the middle of the room, like he does most mornings. Sometimes some of his friends from the fence will come and join him. But today was Monday- his day off and their on day shift. Most days he hates the loneliness, but today it felt nice. A chance to think of everything that's happened over the last few days. He smiled to himself as he took a bite out of his burger.   
‘Peter.’ His peace was interrupted. Four plonked himself next to him at the bench. His eyes had black bags hanging from underneath them, his hair ruffled into a sweaty mess and he was still wearing the clothes from the day before.  
‘You look gross. Spent the night with Tris did we?’ He smirked a malicious grin.   
‘No, actually. I’ve been looking for Taura.’ He sighed. Peter’s grin vanished and was replaced with an emotion he couldn't describe. ‘I thought she would be with you.’  
‘I haven't seen her since around midnight. Has something happened to her?’ He asked calmly, turning his green eyes back to his food. It took every bit of him not to panic. He didn't want to leave her last night. He knew he shouldn't have left her last night.  
‘We had an argument last night after you had done flirting with her,’ Four remarked sarcastically, ‘she stormed out and I haven't seen her since. I thought she might of spent the night with you.’  
‘I know you think I'm a bad person Four, and your probably right-‘  
‘Thank you.’  
‘But I certainly wouldn't use someone like that.’ Peter told him matter of factly. Four remained silent. ‘I will help you find her. She can't of gone far.’ He sighed. Why was he doing this? Why was he doing a favour for someone he had sworn to neglect and belittle? He thought to himself. Is it because he regrets his previous malicious attacks against Tris and the gang? Or because of the unusual connection he shared with Taura? He couldn't decide.  
‘You don't know Taura. She could be anywhere in the city.’ Four shook his head from left to right slowly, denying the claim.  
‘Look, I will go speak to Eric see if he has seen her and we’ll go from there.’ Peter stood up from the bench and clasped a hand on Fours shoulder. ‘I will tell you if I know anything.’ He smiled more menacingly than he hoped at his unlikely partner. Four looked at him with uncertainty, his eyes dotting around Peter’s facial features, trying to find any hints of a liar. Four certainly wasn't a candour; but he knew far too well when Peter was bluffing. But he had developed a friendship with Taura; something he no longer had. He was willing to search for her; something he had failed at, again. It was this or having his best friends life put into the path of plain danger.

Eric stared at the open folder infront of him inquisitively. The sparse words on the page weren't making any connection with him. He continued to stare.  
Full name: Taura Jade Daniels  
Age: 18  
Date of Birth: N/A  
Blood relatives: N/A  
Spouse: Adam Daniels  
Faction of origin: Amity   
Chosen faction: Amity   
Aptitude results: Dauntless  
Fugitive to: Dauntless   
Reason for fugitive: N/A (personal reasoning feared to be life threatening if revealed)

Eric's eyes scammed over the little information several times. Several things stood out to him. ‘Spouse? At 18?’ He muttered to himself. The thought of himself marrying someone this year made him feel sick to the stomach. ‘No blood relatives? Deceased?’ He muttered again. ‘No record of the birth?’ Everyone in the city of Chicago were registered at first. Especially in Amity. Tracking every child's development since day one is crucial in the essential faction. In Dauntless it's common to have births to not be recorded; in fact Eric could think of several he knows of. Erudite- very rare, having records of everyone is knowledge. Candor- highly unlikely, they are always truthful. Abnegation- almost never, it's seen as selfish to keep the baby a secret, besides everyone knows everyone there. Factionless- there's no point in recording them anyway. But Amity? This would be the first case for sure. Eric shakes his head at his unsolved problem. ‘Stop being Erudite.’ He’d tell himself every time he craves unnecessary knowledge; and that's exactly what he does. Slowly, he closes the file and lazily drops it back in a drawer under his desk. He rubs his hands over his face and lets out a long displeased groan.  
‘Hey Eric.’ Peter’s voice.  
‘What?’ Eric snaps at the young man propped stiffly against the door frame. Peter shuts the door behind him before starting.  
‘Taura Daniels.’ He sighs, furrowing his thick brows. ‘Do you… know where she is?’   
‘No more than you do.’ Eric kicks his feet up onto the desk that was loose aon its hinges. It shifted from side to side. ‘She left during her training session. Well, before her training session.’  
‘And you didn't think to tell anyone?’ Peter raised one furrowed brow. Usually protocol is to alert the control room and public sector of any disappearances, which would mean either him or Four should know about it.  
‘Are you questioning me?’ Eric scoffed, his facial expression not faltering. His voice reeked of boredom; like he had this conversation a thousand times already.   
‘Yeah, yeah in fact I am!’ He instantly dreaded the reply.  
‘She promised me she would be an hour. Tops.’ He said as if Peter didn't just belittle him, ‘obviously she underestimated!’   
‘Clearly.’ Peter remarked, pacing around the office.  
‘Why do you care so much about her anyway?’ Eric put him on the spot. The truth was he didn't know. He was confused by his own emotions. Peter sort of bounced on the spot slightly, his mouth slightly agape, his head moving side to side.  
‘I-I don't know. I don't know Eric. I don't care why I care to be honest with you. I just want her found.’ Eric observed him for a few seconds, one eyebrow a little higher than the other.  
‘She received a phone call from someone before she left. Judging by what she was saying and the tone of her voice, it wasn't exactly a happy-go-lucky phone call.’ He rolled his eyes.  
‘Well she's not exactly a happy-go-lucky girl herself.’  
‘I suppose.’  
‘She did mention something last night; not all apples are green.’ Peter repeated Taura’s words slowly. They rang in his ears, the same way they have done all morning.  
‘What's that meant to mean?’ Eric cringed.  
‘I think it might be a metaphor for something. But she's that unpredictable it could be as dumb as it sounds.’ Peter smacks his hands against the outside of his thighs.  
‘Look at you Candor sounding like an Erudite.’ Eric snickered.  
‘I'm not just a meathead you know.’  
‘Okay.’ Eric opened a draw under his desk, pulling out a grey folder. ‘See if anything in here will help you find her whereabouts. It's bleak I know, but this is what was entered.’ He tossed him the file recklessly which Peter caught with great ease.  
‘What's this?’ He turned the file in his left hand inspecting the front and back covers.  
‘Taura’s data file.’ Peter glanced at Eric then stared at the beige folder. He ran his hand over the front cover. ‘Well?’ Eric dragged his voice.  
‘Should I be reading this?’ Peter asks. ‘I mean she's always so reluctant to mention anything about what happened to her.’  
‘She doesn't have to know you read it. Besides there really isn't much in there.’  
‘I don't know… I'm candor, I'm not good with big secrets.’   
‘Look do you want to find her or not?’ He moaned impatiently.  
‘Okay okay.’ Peter opened the folder. His eyes brushed over the contents. He sat down on the leather chair placed oddly in the middle of the room. ‘This is confusing.’   
‘Isn't it?’  
‘I mean there is barely any information in here. Did Amity forget to hand over anything?’ Peter furrowed his brows. Eric shrugged at him. His face still dead. ‘Spouse? She's 18 isn't it-‘ he paused. ‘oh my god.’  
‘What?’   
‘It makes sense now.’  
‘What makes sense?’ Eric threw his hands in the air.  
‘Amity’s values.’ Peter muttered under his breath getting out the chair.  
‘Peter, what the fuck are you on about?!’ He cursed.  
‘In candor we were taught about how Amity has a distorted vision of peace.’ He said. ‘Contrasting to suspicions, Amity have no laws, they just have sanctions for breaking the peace.’ He continued, pacing round the room. ‘They say that laws allow dauntless to enter the premises regularly, which obviously is a problem for them.’  
‘I'm not following. What does any of this have to do with finding out Taura’s location.’  
‘Think Eric. Amity will do anything to keep the peace between families. What is the one thing that would be most valuable?’

‘Taura!’ Peter called through his hands as he marched through a Amity field. Nettles and thorns were attacking any piece of flesh they could get to. He batted over grown weeds, vines and crooked branches out his face as he stormed through the wide spread fields of the Amity jungle. Rotten fruit and vegetables covered dry and grey soil making the ground an organic slip and slide. Peter was careful with his steps; not wanting to slip or fall, but at the same time he advanced quickly. The sheer size and confusing complex made it a mystery how no one got lost in the faction. Fallen trees, dead birds, rusted spades littered the forest. ‘What the hell happened here?’ He whispered for If trees had feelings, their was no wonder they were drooping. Peter's memories of the faction were always the complete opposite of what he stands in now. Bright green grass, trees that made the wall look tiny, vibrant coloured fruit and veg that grew from the plants, birds that created a blissful background tune everywhere you stepped. But not anymore. Children used to run around these fields; playing tig or climbing trees. But not now. Adults used to work in these fields; collecting pears or fertilising the soil. But not now. Now it's like walking through a grave yard of a faction lost to the hands of neglect.

‘Taura!’ Peter called again, but to only hear his voice echo through the emptiness. ‘Where are you?!’ He listened to his voice travel further through the forests. He wondered if there was even anyone left. He pulled out a walkie-talkie that he was given before leaving his own faction. He held down the black button on the left side of the communicator. He waited until the crackle had ended before speaking. ‘Four? I'm gonna need a hand.’ There was a short pause.  
‘Which field are you in?’ Four’s voice came back slightly muffled.  
‘The graveyard?’ He remarked. Another pause.  
‘Peter be serious.’ This time clearer, Fours voice was stern.  
‘I am. I'm literally stood in a field of dead plants and shit.’ Peter looked around him. ‘Four, do you know what happened here?’   
‘I haven't been in there for as long as you have Peter. I have no idea.’ He responded almost too sharply.  
‘Do you have any idea where she might be. It's like trying to look for a chocolate chip in a bowl of melted chocolate.’ There was a longer pause this time.  
‘Umm… try the apple orchards. She used to spend a lot of time there.’  
‘Will do. I will speak to you when I find her.’ He sighed exasperatingly.  
‘Okay. Remember to look up.’ Four said before a silent crackle came through the speaker.


	3. open wounds

Peter finally found his way onto fertile soil, his boots slightly sinking with every step. The sweet smell of apples was heavy in the atmosphere. ‘This is more like it.’ He sighed swinging his arms around aimlessly. Apples drooped over his head creating an arc, he pulled one of a branch. A red one. He ran his hands over the smooth, vibrant skin of the fruit. It felt weird in his hands. Dauntless don't eat apples, and the last time he was in Amity there wasn't really time to wander the fields. He took a bite. The texture was unusual, the crunch, the rubbery smoothness of the skin. Peter's face contorted and twisted into a frown and a grimace as he chewed. ‘Shit!’ he cursed to himself as he spat the pieces of apple onto the ground. His face continued to twist as he attempted to rid himself of the bitter taste. ‘That tasted like stale toilet water…’ Peter groaned stepping further into the orchards.

The evening began to draw neat now, birds flew between the branches singing their evening song. Sunlight, which was now orange and pink instead of white and yellow warmed the vast sky. It was peaceful now; almost silent. Some may even say its tranquil. But Peter would call it eerie, almost out of character. You couldn't hear laughter, you couldn't hear singing or the rhythmic footsteps of an Amity dance. He couldn't hear it. 

For the second time this afternoon, he unclipped the walkie talkie from his belt. He fiddled with the dial, making sure to get a good signal.  
‘Hey who am I speaking to?’  
‘Four.’ Four’s voice.  
‘And Eric.’ Eric’s voice.  
‘Great what we playing, guess who?’ Peter remarked.  
‘No.’ Four snapped.  
‘I thought we were playing monopoly?’ Eric questioned almost innocently.  
‘No, I'm trying to find Taura.’ Peter corrected.  
‘Well it's taking that long! I couldn't tell the fucking difference!’ Eric shouted through the walkie talkie causing Peter to cringe at the volume of his voice.  
‘Well I can't see her anywhere and I'm running out of options, maybe she's already back in dauntless or maybe she decided to go back home.’   
‘No.’ Four snapped, ‘you can't give up Peter.’   
‘What is it with you and this girl, Four? Your like a dad-‘ Eric asked curtly. ‘Wait, your not actually her dad are you?’ He laughed mischievously.  
‘No. I'm not.’   
‘Can you guys stop bickering for 2 minutes!’ Peter scolded  
‘Sorry.’ Four sighed. ‘Eric, she left with her phone right?’  
‘No she gave it to me. What do you think dumbass?!.’ Eric growled.  
‘Good. One sec, I’m going to track her gps.’ Four responded.  
‘You’ve only just thought of that?’   
‘Yeah, I've been roaming round here for hours and it could have been that easy?’ Peter complained.  
‘Hang on, Amity is just grass and trees, it's not that hard to pick out a girl in all black.’  
‘It is when there's a lot of trees!’   
‘You could of asked somebody. I mean Amity are bound to notice when a dauntless enters the ground.’ Eric said. ‘Especially when it's someone they know.’   
‘That's the thing. No ones here. It's like an organic Navy Pier.’   
‘Odd.’ Eric stated.  
‘A lot of things have changed there recently. It's one of the reasons why Taura left.’ Four interrupted. ‘ Peter maybe you can ask her about it, if you look up.’ At that, Peter tilted his head upwards to see a raven haired girl – the one he's been searching for – dangling her legs from one of the branches. ‘Ahh, found her.’ Peter said, feeling slightly embarrassed.  
‘Ha ha you jackass!’ Eric laughed. ‘Bring her up to my office when you get back.’  
‘And then to my apartment. And no I don’t live in yours.’ Four said sarcastically.  
‘Fine.’ Peter said before turning of the walkie talkie.

Peter stared up at her. His eyes wondered thoughtfully over Taura and the tree. She hadn't seen him. At least he didn't think she had. Her eyes remained locked on the approaching sunset and her head rested limply against the crumbling trunk. Pale hands clutched tightly to an item that glared in the strokes of sunlight, reflecting down onto the coagulated soil below. Peter glance up at her once more before turning back to the tree infront of him. He ran a hand over the bark softly and slowly; rough wood grazing his skin. He let his fingers dig into various crooks and brakes in the trunk testing the grip. Letting out a breathy sigh, he slipped a hand into a hole in the bark and a foot into one below hoisting himself up. Right hand and left foot followed in turn, hooking themselves onto whatever they could. ‘Well there's a first time for everything.’ He muttered, beginning to climb his way up. For Peter, this wasn't such a tricky task. Dauntless training has built up his body strength and kept him in good shape so lifting himself up a plant that doesn't move was easy enough. His legs began to burn as he reached Taura, the usually pale and soft skin of his hands was now red and rough. She still didn't notice him. She continued to stare into empty space, her eyes filled with a blank distant gleam with her head slouched against the twisting trunk. ‘What are you doing all the way up here, Apples?’ He said as cheerfully as he could, clinging the the branches. Taura looked at him slowly, her eyes grazing over his face. Her full lips turned upwards into a weak smile which faded as soon as it came. Her eyes began to wonder back to the sky.   
‘Making friends with the other apples, what do you think?’ She joked lightheartedly, looking down at her hands briefly.  
‘Dauntless got a bit boring for you already?’ He quirked a black brow upwards.  
‘Not at all. I came up her to watch the sunset.’ She smiled at him again. ‘I used to climb this tree at the same time every day and watch the sunset.’  
‘I don't think I have seen a sunset in years.’ He sighed lightly.  
‘Here.’ Taura Shuffled further onto the branch and patted the spot next to her. Peter lifted himself onto the branch with his forearms, twisting to sit next to her. Their arms grazed against eachothers.   
‘So, what am I looking for?’   
‘Any minute now…’ she said, looking out into the distance, Peter followed her gaze. From up here the wall was barely visible and the perimeters of the city seemed to go on forever. Just as she said, about a minute later the yellow ball of fire changed to hues of orange, and then almost tangerine. It merged with the sky, like juice dissolving in a glass of water. The clouds were cotton candy, as though they blushed at the warm caress of the sun. The mauve of the dusky sky intensified, and in just a while, the biggest star had set, giving way to thousands of others.  
‘Woah.’ Peter watched in awe as day gradually slipped into night.  
‘It's beautiful, isn't it?’ Taura smiled gently, her eyes sparkling like the stars. Peter nodded and hummed a little.  
‘Why did you used to watch it so much?’ he quizzed raising his brows.  
‘Good question.’ She said, thinking about how to answer. ‘Um, I guess the sky represents my fears in a way.’ She shrugged.  
‘Your scared of the sky?’ Peter said.  
‘No of course not.’   
‘Then what then?’  
‘Well, they say that if you go far enough into space then your effectively travelling into the past.’ Peter stared at her blankly. ‘If it's any simpler, you would never see Chicago as it currently is now. You would only ever see it as what it was seconds, minutes or days ago, possibly even centuries ago.’   
‘That's weird to think about.’ Peter shrugged. ‘So your scared of your past.’   
‘In some aspects, yeah.’   
‘So in a few years time you would be scared of me?’ Peter smirked.  
‘I think your overthinking it.’ She chuckled shaking her head at him.  
‘Probably.’ He joked. ‘Hey what happened to the apples, they taste like shit.’   
‘Which field did you get one from?’ She frowned.  
‘That one.’ He pointed to the orchard behind them.  
‘Peter, you ate a laced apple.’ She began to laugh loudly. ‘Your gonna be all happy clappy for the next few hours.’   
‘Oh. Well that explains a lot.’ He said. ‘we better get going.’ Peter began to grip himself back to the tree. He let his feet find the ledges in the bark and his hands find the hooks. Taura still sat on the branch, staring thoughtfully at her hands. ‘Come on, let me give you a hand.’ He outstretched an arm towards her.  
‘Peter, hunny, I’ve been climbing trees since I could walk.’ She rolled her eyes.  
‘I know, but um…’ He bit his lip, his face turning slightly red. ‘It's late, and you look a little tired.’ He looked towards the ground then back into Taura’s eyes which were calculating him intensely.  
‘Fine.’ She sighed, leaning forward and gripping the shoulder of his jacket. He snaked his arm round her waist and pulled her body against his while Taura wrapped her arms round his neck.   
‘You might wanna hold on tight, I'm still mastering this.’ He joked clinging onto her waist tighter. With that, she hugged her legs round his waist. ‘Damn you don't weigh a lot, or am I just that strong?’ Peter bragged giving her a grin.   
‘Don't give yourself the glory.’ She rolled her green orbs. He laughed lightly, his eyes finding hers for a brief second before he averted them to the task at hand. He began to make his way back down the tree, Taura’s breath grazed his neck sending a shiver running down his spine. He made two more steps downwards approaching the ground.  
‘You know I kind of feel like Spider-Man.’ He said continuing to step carefully on the tree.  
‘I don't think spider man carries girls and climbs trees.’ Taura giggled as he takes another step. And another.  
‘Yeah but he does other things.’ Peter took another step.  
‘Like climbing buildings?’   
‘Something like that.’ Peter took another step. A piece of bark under his foot snapped and broke away. Gravity pulled both his feet away from the tree and both of them in turn, sending them falling towards the ground. Taura let out a small shrill and gripped Peter's leather jacket tighter. They hit the, fortunately, soft ground with a thud. Peter landing on his back and Taura straddling his waist with her head buried in the crevice of his neck. Peter groaned in pain and grimaced.  
‘Way to go Spider-Man!’ Taura chastised sitting up right on top of him. Peter continued to writhe with pain for a while before it began to subside.  
‘Are you alright?’ He asked breathlessly. Taura cocked an eyebrow at him.  
‘Are you alright?’ She teased beginning to laugh lightly.  
‘I just fell out a tree so yeah I’m great.’ He rolled his eyes sarcastically before starting to laugh. ‘So much for Spider-Man.’ Taura began to laugh with him.  
‘More like Flopman.’ She said as they both laughed loudly.  
‘Your cute when you laugh.’ He complimented watching her intently.  
‘And there's the happy clappy apple kicking in.’ She said as she rolled off of him and onto her feet. She brushed the dirt off her black training pants; leaving two brown stains on the knees behind. ‘Let me help you up, Flopman.’ She outstretched her hand towards him which he gladly took. Peter limped to his feet, groaning in pain he massaged his back.  
‘That's gonna hurt in the morning.’ He moaned as Taura looped an arm around him and helped him hobble back to the truck.  
‘Come on old pops.’ 

 

Peter pulled the truck into the garage under the compound. It was just like all the other rooms in dauntless; dingy, damp and grey. Accept this one was loaded with tools and equipment. Ammunition and artillery was stacked in crates in the right corner of the room. Various rifles and hand guns layered the left wall. Fire trucks, patrol cars, surveillance vehicles and motorcycles littered the centre floor. A large rusted metal door covered half of the right door, locked with what looked like Erudite security pads. Taura’s eyes rested on it suspiciously. It was similar to a storage cupboard in Amity that she was never allowed to enter. Once she had plucked enough curiosity to attempt to enter but was seized before being able to succeed.  
‘So why did you go back to Amity?’ Peter asked, taking the key out of the ignition. Taura ran her tongue over the bottom row of teeth and averted her eyes forward.   
‘I had something I needed to do.’ She said. Her voice severe and harsh, almost irritated.  
‘Is that it?’ Peter scoffed turning to face her.  
‘What do you mean is that it?’   
‘I mean I just spent six hours looking for you and that's the reason I get?’   
‘Peter I don't need to give reasons for my actions.’ She spat coldly. The words were like acid rolling off her tongue. ‘Nobody else is gonna get a better reason than that.’ A loud silence fell over the pair of them for a few seconds. ‘Did you really spend six hours looking for me?’  
‘Of course I did.’ He said smoothly, his mouth twisting upwards into a smile. ‘I wasn't going to let you be eaten alive by the Amity.’ He joked.  
‘That's really sweet of you.’ She flashed him a sarcastic smile.  
‘Yeah. Well, your cool and I like you so…yeah.’ Peter stammered and shrugged slightly. ‘Bad influence my ass, Four.’   
‘He's called you a bad influence?’ Taura laughed.  
‘Yeah. Why does he say the opposite about me to you?’  
‘No. He says worse.’ Taura said causing Peter to laugh.  
‘Really? Like what?’   
‘He called you a manipulative dick.’ Peter frowned slightly at that.  
‘Well, he might be justified to say that.’ Peter sighed leaning back in the seat.  
‘Oh come on. You can't of done anything that bad!’ Taura told him.  
‘No. No, I have. But that's in the past. And you probably will never hear what I did from me.’ Peter connected his eyes with hers. ‘I consider you as a close friend and I don't want to jeopardise that. I- I’ve ruined too many things for myself and others. I can't do it again. Not to you anyway.’ Peter decided not to break his eyes away from hers or at least he couldn't. They were like a door into an entire new room. A room with four walls, no windows, no furniture, just the two of them yet he was lost. And he couldn't find the exit nor did he want to. Peter found himself leaning slowly towards her and Taura didn't back away. His heart didn't pound in his chest but he felt something burning inside of him. His hand found the curve of her waist and it rested there.  
‘Peter?’ She whispered in more of a moan then a question. ‘What are you-?’  
‘I don't know.’ Peter said before pressing his lips to hers. Taura went stiff, all the muscles in her body contracted at the sensation of cold skin against hers. Peter began to pull himself away, noticing the tension in her body, but a hand seized his face pulling him back into her, his mouth crashing into hers once more. He kissed her; and this time she responded and kissed him back. Both their worlds fell away around them. It started slow and soft, comforting in ways that words could never be. But then every kiss became hungrier and their bodies moved together in a passionate fury. Peter's hands roamed her waist and thighs, pulling her closer towards him. Taura’s hands raked through his hair and rolled over his neck, pulling him closer towards her. His tongue ran over the seam of her lip asking for entrance, which she granted. A warmth spread through her like a fire and she moaned into the kiss. He smirked and moved his hands under her thighs, pulling her swiftly onto his lap. They pulled off each other, panting for air, foreheads pressed together. Peter moved his head to her shoulder, connecting his lips to her collar bone. A moan escaped from her lips as he left wet trails of soft kisses up her neck to her jaw. His hand found the hem of her shirt and moved his hand beneath it, searching the skin of her lower back. Lips found lips again and as Taura moaned into the kiss, Peter couldn't help but chuckle. His hand travelled further up her back, fingers grasping onto anything. Something warm ran between two fingers, which Peter bypassed as sweat. Or at least until they dug into something. At first he didn't know exactly what it was, but as his callous fingers searched it, Taura tensed and pulled on his hair lightly but enough to hurt. Peter pulled himself away from her mouth and his hand from under her shirt. Blood covered the skin of his palm, painting it a crimson red. Still slightly dazed , he ran his eyes over the now red skin while his brows furrowed into a tight knot. His eyes flicked to Taura, who was gnawing at the pink flesh of her lip, her eyes and mind somewhere else; somewhere distant.  
‘You’re bl-bleeding?’ He questioned more than stated trying to come to terms with what on earth just happened.  
‘Umm… I guess I must of cut myself on some branches and thorns.’ She stammered. She gave a small fake laugh.   
He says, ‘I'm not a nose -but from my experience in Amity- I don't think branches cut this deep.’   
‘Well… I-I’m quite clumsy a lot of the time.’ She said, scratching the back of her neck.  
‘It didn't cut through your shirt though?’ He remarked. Taura sat there, her lips slightly pursed. He had her pegged. But she couldn't tell him. Not here. Not now. Maybe not ever. She wasn't Candor, her life wasn't going to be put on a plate and be served to the first person whose nice to her. There are always some things that should be kept in confidence.

A sudden hollow echo of knuckles rapping against the window interrupted the pair.  
‘Uh oh.’ Peter strained, throwing his head back against the head rest. A bright light shone through the glass revealing Eric's disgruntled face. A blue piercing shone under the flashlight he was holding next to his face.   
‘Unlock the door Peter.’ He said. Steel eyes calculated them both as Peter leaned forward. He outstretched his arm towards the dash board pressing down on a button that looked like an open padlock. The door clicked and Eric swung it open slightly aggressively. ‘You both know that trainer/initiate relationships are banned, right?’  
‘She's not technically an initiate.’  
‘Fugitive, Amity, prostitute, initiate – whatever. She's undergoing training. That makes her an initiate.’ Eric said flatly. Taura turned her face away from the pair folding her arms across her chest, staring blankly at the door on the other side of the room.   
‘Do you like getting involved with everybody else's business?’   
‘No. I just don't understand your eagerness to jump into bed with her straightaway.’ Eric criticised. ‘She's probably carrying several STIs and twins.’ Taura bit down on her lip, her nails digging into the flesh of her arms.  
‘That's way too far. Do you have any human emotions?’   
‘Oh and stabbing someone doesn't come under that category?!’ Eric snapped harshly.  
‘That was in the past!’ Peter whispered loudly, gritting his teeth.  
‘Yeah 2 years ago, what a long time it's been!’   
‘What do you want Eric?’ Taura spat, snapping her head round to face him. She glared him down. The truck fell silent and Peter was pretty sure she heard him gulp.  
Eric froze for a few seconds before saying, ‘I need to talk to you, in my office. Now.’   
Taura shrugged dismissively, ‘okay.’ She simply stated before hopping out the truck. Peter grabbed hold of her wrist making her face him again.  
‘Do you want me to go with you? He seems pretty pissed.’   
‘I can look after myself Peter.’ She scolded before following Eric.

Eric roughly opened his office door. ‘Get in.’ He growled at Taura who took a large stride past the door frame. ‘Don't over exaggerate it. We’re not filming a reality show.’ She rolled her eyes at him as he slammed the dark steel door behind them.  
‘Really? It's all very dramatic.’ Taura groaned sarcastically.  
‘I didn't tell you to speak.’  
‘You didn't tell me to stop.’ Time froze for a few seconds. Eric's eyes hardened at her reluctance to comply and Taura’s glared at him with bottled up anger.   
‘I'm aware that you and Peter are-‘ he paused, ‘-seeing each other.’  
‘We’re not seeing each other.’ Taura responded.  
‘Really? What was that in the truck?’ He chuckled lightly but not the happy type of chuckle, more like the kind of chuckle villains have in movies.   
‘We just kissed. That's all.’  
‘Are you sure that was all? He seemed to have his hands all over you.’   
‘I'm sure, okay?’ She growled impatiently.  
‘He’ll pay you at some point…’ Eric whispered just loud enough for Taura to hear.  
‘What?’ Taura growled.  
‘I mean you’re a prostitute right?’ he asked innocently flashing her a large grin. Taura turned to face away from him, digging her nails into her flesh leaving small red marks behind.  
‘Of course you would know all about them.’ Taura muttered rather loudly. The pearly white teeth vanished from Eric's face and his eyes hardened. Unfolding his arms from across his chest, he slowly walked towards Taura making sure each step he took didn't make a sound. 

Taura began to relax, the pressure on her shoulders began to subside. Or at least it had before she felt the presence of a large hand pressing against the small of her back lightly covering her wound. The weight on her shoulders came back and memories she wish she could just throw up out of her body plagued her mind. All of a sudden the presence of the limb became stronger and heavier as it slammed her small body into the wall. 

Taura let out a pained scream when Eric pressed his hand down firmer, digging into the gash. He was dangerously close to her. His warm breath lingered over the skin of her neck.   
‘I already warned you about these little snide remarks you make.’ He paused as if waiting for a response, probably so he could degrade her even more. When he got no reply, he simply forced his hand harder against her back, putting the majority of his weight onto her tiny frame receiving a gasp from Taura. He continued, ‘And if you make anymore I won't-‘ he paused again, shifting his weight off her slightly when he felt something warm run over his hand. His hard gaze softened slightly as he moved it down to his hand. Red liquid was now running down the back of his hand from the gaps between his fingers. He retracted his hand off her back slowly looking at his palm which was now dripping Taura’s blood onto the cavern floor. Eric glanced back at her shirt which was sticking to her back and plastered with an ugly blood stain that was still expanding outwards. His eyes widened in alarm at the sight. He moved his clean hand to the hem of her shirt and began to roll it upwards before stopping again.  
‘I swear to god if you take this the wrong way…’ he whispered rather loudly before continuing to ravel up her shirt. 

Black fabric peeled slowly away from her back revealing the majority of her back. It was covered in huge bruises. Some fresh and some old. The blacks, blues, purples and greens made her skin look like the canvas of a drunken artist. Eric knew that was pretty much exactly what it was. A huge rip in her flesh ran down the centre of her back and was seeping with fresh blood. It wasn't particularly deep, but enough to tear through the surface of the tissue. It was definitely a stab wound.   
‘Amity preach non-violence?’ Eric thought to himself carefully analysing the wound. 

They stayed there in silence for what seemed like hours to Taura. Once every so often, Eric’s breath would graze the wound. It felt strangely colder on her back then what it did on her neck. The shirt slid back down her back sticking to some patches of blood again, she could feel some of the fabric being sucked into the wound like a vacuum. Taura waited until she heard the sound Eric's footsteps move away from her before re-composing herself and turning to face him. She watched him clean his hands with an antiseptic wipe he took from a first-aid kit hung on the wall behind his desk. She couldn't read his expressions – like Peter told her, his face is always dead – however there was something there. Confusion, anger, curiosity or maybe all three. She couldn't tell. Perching on the front of his desk, he looked back at her. When he had her pinned against the wall, her shirt rolled up, she felt exposed. But the way he’s looking at her now makes her feel like an open book that he’s skimming and scamming for important information. ‘He knows everything. He must know now.’ She thought to herself. She felt intimidated by that idea and knew she could never stand up to him the way she always had done again. The way he watched her fumble with her shirt line, bite her lip, fidget on her feet made her want to go hide somewhere he can't look at her.  
‘Before you ask me anything.’ She said, her voice shaking slightly.  
‘I'm not going to ask anything.’ Eric answered swiftly averting his eyes to a spot on the wall. ‘I don't wish to concern myself in people's private lives.’ He paused. ‘And I'm sure you don't want me to.’  
‘Yeah…’ She sighed, slightly relieved that he understood her at some degree. Maybe they weren't so different.  
‘Your free to go now. Unless,’ another pause, ‘there's anything you want to tell me?’   
‘Why would I tell you anything?’  
‘That’s what I thought.’ He chuckled slightly, but there was no smile. ‘The infirmary will be closed now, but I suggest you get Four – or Peter – to patch you up.’ Eric advised rather softly. He turned to face her and began to walk around to behind his desk. As Taura watched him do this, she decided this was the right time to leave. She nodded in his direction and mouthed ‘okay’ before turning and making her way towards the door.  
‘Oh and Taura.’ He spoke up, forcing her to turn back to face him. He had his hands splayed flat on the table around a sheet of paper or folder of some sort, holding his arms up and revealing the intricate patterns of ink on this arms. She was sure he was going to lecture her on her comments or what happened in the garage however she was wrong. ‘anything said in here, stays in here.’


	4. Broken Scars

Taura’s POV.

I began to weave myself through the sea of black jackets, tattooed arms and pierced faces. I don’t like this daily commute from the door to a table, with a thousand perverted eyes watching me. Some girls would love the feeling of guys looking at them like a hyena looks at prey, but for me it just brings haunting memories to my mind.  
“Hey.” A man about 2 inches taller than me appeared infront of me, blocking my direction. Here we go again.  
“Hi. Any reason you decided to get in my way?” I responded curtly, giving him a fake smile. Out of the corner of my eye I could see a group of other male dauntless watching us both. His pack, I assume. That’s what groups of animals do when they go for prey; one goes in for the kill, the rest watch and only join in when things get tricky. I need to be careful.  
“Taura, isn’t it?” He said. I just nodded. “Your name travelled fast round here, after what happened with Eric.”  
“Well at least people know not to get on the wrong side of me. Now if you excuse me.” I growled, trying to squeeze my way past him.  
‘Wait, hang on.” He says and seizes me with an arm gripped way to low over the front of my waist.  
“Get off of me.” I say, giving him a warning glance.   
“Oh come on, someone like you deserves to hang around people more your speed.” His grip tightened. Stay calm. He won’t do anything around this many people.  
“Please, let me past. I’ve already broke one nose this week, do I have to break another?”  
He pulled me in tighter and I could feel his breath grazing over the skin of my neck. “There’s also a rumour going around that you like to play dirty… care to show me sometime?” He whispered, his hand moving further down my waist. Shit. Maybe I was wrong.  
“Hey!” A female voice called from behind, causing ‘flirty face’ to loosen his grip. “Are you deaf or something?! She said let her go!” There was a short pause, that felt like forever before he snaked his hand off of my waist. I turned around to see a girl about my height, with olive skin and slightly wavy brown hair in a bob. I’ve met her before. “Now step aside, or do I have to make you?’ She growled lowly, her dark green eyes hardening. Christina. That's her name.

The unnamed man let out a grunt and moved to the left slightly, leaving a path for me. Moving past him, I made sure to shunt him harshly in the shoulder. Thank fuck for that.  
“Are you okay?” Christina came up behind me, placing a hand on my shoulder, and giving me a sympathetic look. I'm not a child.  
“Yeah, I'm fine. Thank you, by the way.” I smiled as we kept walking. She seemed to be guiding me in a certain direction; away from Peter.   
“You should stay away from them, if anything was to prove that men were controlled by their dicks it would be them.” She said making me chuckle lightly. Christina was very similar to me. She was short, which made me feel more comfortable. She was confident and had a short temper but was able to control it.

We were going to get along just fine.

“Come sit with me and Tris.” She smiled, pulling me to sit next to her. Tris , the slightly taller girl with cropped blonde hair and little skin exposed, sat across from us. Four spoke a lot about her. She’s a ‘do-gooder’ from what I gathered. A stiff. Apart from Four, I don't get a long with stiff’s. They’re too grey. Simple. Dull. Boring. They do the exact same thing, in the same way Every. Single. Day. Very similar to the Amity actually. 

I gave her a polite smile, but no more.

Peter was watching me from across the tables, alone. Damn do I wish I was sat with him right now. He was staring at me, a small smile playing on the corners of his mouth. I stared back, my eyes locking with his. They were so angelic.   
I gave him a wink, and he winked back, his smile growing across his face as he chuckled. Heat crossed over the apples of my cheeks, forcing me to have to look away. Damn, what was he doing to me?.  
“Please tell me you’re not friends with that asshole?” Christina asked with a disgruntled face as she shoved a muffin under my nose. I really wasn't in the mood to eat.  
“Um…”  
“He’s bad news, Taura. Don't get too close to him.” Christina warned taking a large bite out of her own muffin.  
“Why does everyone keep saying that? He seems nice.” I asked slightly frustrated. Why does everyone seem to hate him? Peter’s been nothing but nice to me since I got here, and I'm not going to let two strangers change my opinions on him.  
“He tried to kill me!” Tris exclaimed. There’s probably a valid reason.  
“He may look nice and innocent, but he’s not, okay?” Christina says.   
“Oh come on, he’s the only one who’s made me feel comfortable here since day one.” I responded truthfully. Peter was still watching me.  
“Not surprised, the way you flaunt yourself around here.” Tris spat. That bitch.  
“Excuse me?”   
“I'm just saying, there's no wonder he’s all over you the way you show your tits off like you own the place.”   
Did I just hear her right?! That irritating, annoying, stiff little bitch!  
“Tris!” Exclaimed Christina. Was this uncommon for Tris? I don’t think so.  
“What? Four said it as well, she practically launches herself at men.”  
That's it. I'm seeing red. Full blown red. Blood fucking red.  
“The only thing I'm launching at anyone is my fucking fist into your big ass mouth!” I jump out of my seat and swing at her. All common sense and reasoning is pushed out of my mind and replaced with hard cold anger. I don't even think my swings had any sort of power or technique, they were just strings of fists flying into her face. When I get angry, I can't control myself, my emotions over power me and I don't stop until every last drop of anger has been exhausted out of me.  
Bitch. Bitch. Bitch. Bitch. Bitch. Bitch!  
I keep swinging at her, my surroundings aren’t visible through the haze covering my eyes, but I'm pretty sure the entire room is surrounding me.   
The floor beneath me disappears and it feels like I'm flying. My arms are strapped tightly to the front of me and my body is being gripped tightly from the waist up. I kick and thrash my legs, the only free limbs I have left, in an attempt to escape from my capturer or hit my opponent. I can't tell if it's working; so I try more verbal approaches.  
“Get the fuck off of me! Let me at that bitch!” I shout, still thrashing in this person’s - or thing’s – arms. I'm pretty sure I heard them respond but it was muffled to my ears. Their cologne entered my poor sensory system through my nose. It smelt so familiar. His cologne. It was definitely a mans. The smell of air-dryed sheets and coffee was so familiar.   
Peter.   
It was Peter.  
He was just like a mug of freshly brewed coffee, waking me up from my rage and bringing me back down to earth.   
Slowly one by one my senses returned to normal.  
“Taura! Calm down! That's enough!” He shouted, however it felt so soothing. My muscles began to relax and I felt my legs begin to slow down their thrashing. The haze covering my eyes began to dissipate and I could now see the full extent of my damage, smashed glass was thrown all over the bench with coffee and alcohol spilt everywhere. Tris lied on the floor, propped up by an elbow as she wiped some blood away from her eye. Her entire face was covered in it.  
Yet, I felt no remorse. I had no reason to.  
As I predicted, the entire faction had crowded round to see the ‘bitch fight’ commence. The room was fairly quiet – by Dauntless standards anyway. There was a mixture of cheers, laughter and whistles, but overall it was a Dauntless quiet. I continued to writhe in Peter's grip, which was still just as tight.  
“ Come on let's get you out of here, Apples.” Peter told me calmly and began to pull me away from the scene with me still strapped to his chest. I continued to try and break free from Peter, but he was too strong.  
“You’ll regret what you said, Tris! I’ll make you fucking regret it!” I spat at her.  
“Shhh, Apples.” He dragged me through the crowds of dauntless, who were now attempting to get back to what ever they were doing, to an exit. As we passed the door, my eyes locked with icy-blue ones. Eric. Just like Peter said, he’s always deadpan, but I could have sworn I saw the corners of his mouth twitch upwards, like he was holding back a smile.

Peter continued to carry me down the corridors, and up the stairs. I eventually relaxed in his hold, realising there was no point trying to escape anymore. All my senses have come back now, I could feel a burning in my already damaged wrist and the sensation of tears running uncontrollably down my face. Why am I crying? I'm not sad – I’m angry.   
But that makes me upset; the fact that my emotions are so unpredictable for myself.  
“Can I put you down now?” Peter asked me calmly, as he stopped infront of a door.   
104\. That looks familiar.  
I nodded, and he rested my feet on the floor, unwrapping his arms from around me.  
“You feeling any better?” He asked, pulling out a black card from his pocket. I’ve seen them before. Four has one.  
“A little, I guess.” I responded quietly, he observed me for a while before swiping the card against a metal block under the handle. An apartment key, of course.  
“Peter, why are we here?” I asked. He opened the door to his apartment.  
“Did Four give you my note?” He said, stood in the doorway.  
“Note?” That's something else I need to bring up with Four. Great.  
“That's a no then. Don't worry, I'm not trying to pull anything.” He laughed and I smiled. “Come in.” He smiled, waving a hand towards the inside of his apartment.  
“Are you sure?”   
“We’re friends right?”  
“Yeah, yeah we are.” I grinned and stepped inside, and he closed the door behind me.   
His apartment was huge, much like Four’s. Unsurprisingly it was all black, with some white and dark red.   
Peter moved to what must be the kitchen, and opened the fridge examining the contents like he was looking for something in particular.  
“So what was that all about then?” He asked, still looking in his fridge.  
“She riled me up.” I simply stated.  
“Yeah I got that. But why?”   
“They were talking about you and warning me not to hang around with you.” He raised an eyebrow. “And then Tris decided to open her big ass mouth and start calling me a fucking slut. Can you actually believe the nerve. And apparently Four said the same thing and that's when I lost it.” Peter had moved from the fridge to lean against the kitchen island, watching me intently. I could feel tears begin to fall from eyes. “Fuck. I'm such a mess, Peter. Maybe they’re right, I mean look at me, I'm stood here in butt shorts and a crop top. I can’t control my own emotions, as soon as I get angry that's it, I blow. I'm fucking crying and I have no idea why!” I practically scream. “Peter, what's wrong with me? What the fuck is wrong with me?!” I scream again. I find sight of a mirror in the corner of the room and I took a good look at myself. My hair was a scrawny black mess, my face was tear stained and my eyes were bloodshot. You could see the outline of my ribs and the bones of my hips were starting to stick through. The bandages on my wrist were stained red with dried blood and falling off, you could see the purple skin from my bruises through the gaps in the bandages. I looked disgusting.

Peter must of known what was about to happen, he approached me carefully and slowly, I could see him behind me in the mirror, he was watching me so carefully. He must see what I see. This disgusting mess.  
I scream.  
I scream so loud my own ears hurt.  
He wraps his arms around me and holds me close, a hand finding itself in my hair, running his fingers through it soothingly. I begin to cry, and I cry a lot. Peter responds by pressing my head lightly into the crevice of his neck and swaying me from side to side slightly. It's like he has done this with me before, he knew exactly what to say and do to help. To be honest, all he had to do was smell like him and that would be enough.   
I wrap my arms around his waist, under his own arms, and clutched onto the fabric of his shirt for support. My body begins to tremble wildly and Peter just gripped me tighter, and I gripped him tighter. I'm pretty sure I’ve ripped his shirt by now, even my fingers are sore from the pressure.   
Untangling his fingers from my hair, he began stroking it over the top. Every move he made was so slow, gentle and soothing. I could never imagine what everyone had against him, and I don't know if I want to.  
“It's okay, everything's going to be okay Taura.” He whispered to me. I just continue to sob. “There's nothing wrong with you, in anyway. And people are going to keep telling you there is because they want you to be something that makes them look good.” I just continued to cry and cry.  
“You don't understand, something happened in Amity and it's starting to happen here too-“ I stuttered, my voice sounding swollen and dry.  
“I’ll sort it. Whatever it is.” He said firmly, loosening his grip on me slightly.  
“You should of killed that bitch years ago.” I said, snuggling my head into his neck. I began to relax now, my breathing slowing down and tears began to stop falling. I felt him chuckle, his chest vibrating against mine.  
“Hmmm… possibly.” He responded, letting go of me. “Now I brought you here to cheer you up so…” I let go of his shirt and lifted my head off his shoulder to see him grinning at me.  
“What the hell are you up to?” I asked, giving him a pointed look.  
“ Tah- Dah!” He cheered, lifting up a six pack of beer next to his face, his grin not faltering. I scoffed out a short laugh, grinning back at him. “I think today qualifies as a pretty shitty day.” He laughed.   
“You know exactly what to do!” I laughed.  
“What can I say, I’m a motherfucking genius.” I laughed a lot. Compared to my mood earlier, I feel so happy.  
This was going to be a fun night.

2 hours later and we’re both pretty wasted. We're both an ecstatic mess. I can't understand my own words, they’re just a bundle of sounds. It turned out Peter didn't have just one pack of beer, he had 3, and we are doing a very good job of getting through all of them.  
“Okay so, I want to know, what exactly did you do back in Amity to be classed as a criminal?” Peter slurred. This usually wouldn't be something I'm willing to answer; so I let the alcohol do the talking.  
“Okay…” I took another gulp of my drink and my mouth began doing the talking. “But no one can know… so shhhhhhh” I slur, pressing my index finger against his lips and leaning into his shoulder. I felt him peck my finger lightly and slipped it away slowly. I rested my head on his broad shoulders and let the alcohol spill my secrets.  
“It wasn't actually a crime against Amity, it was against Erudite.”  
“Erudite?”   
“Yeah.” I giggle, “strange isnt it? I went walking through the back forest behind the the dome. And I came across a warehouse that I hadn't seen before so long story short I hacked into the Erudite security and broke into the warehouse.”  
“You know that's a federal crime, right?” He laughed.  
“I know, that's why you need to shhhh!” I laughed, waving my finger in his face.  
“I promise, what was in there?”  
“Turns out Amity aren't your classic fairies after all, there where huge crates full of weaponry and bombs. Shhhhh no one can know.” Peter smiled and shook his head. He's clearly way too drunk to understand what I'm telling him. I'm too drunk to understand what I'm telling him.  
“Now, I want to know, what's your biggest secret?” I whispered in his ear, maybe a little seductively. He turned his head, and once again our eyes locked. His pupils are dilated, and I should think mine are too.   
He seemed to bypass my question, “do you want to play a game?” He took another swig of beer, emptying the bottle and chucking it on the floor.  
“A game? Okay.” I said, fiddling with the collar of his shirt.  
“Candor or Dauntless. You go first.” I paused, pondering my decision. I've already committed a federal crime, broke a nose and made out with someone in a truck. Fuck it.  
“Dauntless.” I grinned.  
“Okay-“ 3 loud knocks sounded from the door. Great. 3 knocks again. They were hard knocks, almost angry. Peter groaned loudly, throwing his head back.  
“Open up Peter, I know your in there.” Four. Now it's my turn to throw my head back.   
“ I have an idea!” He jumped out of his seat and stood up in front of me. I gave him a quizzical look and he winked at me before pulling his shirt off. I have no idea what the hell he's doing, but I like where this is going.  
“What on earth are you doing?!”   
“I know what your dare is.” He bit his lip, a wild look in his eyes. I'm still very confused. “Your wearing lip gloss right?” Ahh, I understand now.  
“Peter, I'm not going away until you speak to me. It's important.”  
I stand up from the couch and tangle a hand in his hair, pulling my face up to his ear.   
“Your playing a dangerous game, Peter Hayes.” I whispered, I heard him moan quietly and I began to leave wet kisses along his jawline and neck leaving glossy stains on his pale skin. His hand found the small of my back and pressed me into his chest, I could feel his chest rising and falling with each heavy breath.  
“Peter!” Four’s voice called again.  
I found his bottom lip and pulled it into my mouth, nibbling on it lightly.   
“Peter, I'm not playing games here, I will break this door down!” He's really going to get it from me tomorrow.  
I let go of Peter's lip and chuckled lightly at him.  
“ I think you’re the one playing a dangerous game, Taura.” He smirked and I untangled my fingers from his thick hair.  
Maybe I am.  
He passed me his shirt and said, “put this on.” Before starting towards the door. I watched him as he walked towards the door in nothing but track bottoms. He really knows how to play his cards. I thought, before slipping his shirt on over my head. 

The shirt was huge on me, the sleeves which came to his biceps came to my elbows and the hem which came to his waist line, was down to the middle of my thighs. You couldn't tell that I still had my clothes underneath, thankfully. Perfect.   
Peter opened the door, I couldn't see Four, but I knew by the tone of his voice that he really, really wasn't happy.  
“Took your time to answer didn't you?” Four snarled.  
“Yeah, well I was rather busy.”   
“Yeah, well I need to speak to you. What the hell-“ he paused “have you been drinking?”   
“Nope.” Peter giggled, trying to make it as obvious as he could that he was heavily intoxicated. I began to walk over behind Peter, preparing for my grand entrance. I know Four like the back of my hand and I know exactly what he will ask.  
“Who the hell do you have in there?”   
And that's when I make my entrance. I glide my hands over his shoulders, letting them roam his chest. Damn, this guys solid. I propped my chin on his shoulder and watched Fours eyes double in size. It took me everything I had to not burst out laughing.  
“Oh hey Four.” I said bluntly before turning my attention to Peter's neck, leaving kisses up to his ear.  
“How did I not guess?” Four spat, his jaw clenching. I ignored him, taking Peter's ear lobe between my teeth and gnawing on it. I heard him moan again, loudly to iritate Four. “For god sakes Taura. Do you ever listen to what I tell you?!” Four shouted at me. I continued to ignore him, moving my hands lower down Peter’s chest and pressing myself against his back.   
“Holy Shit. Are you actually going to do this right now, Taura?! Actually what the fuck were you doing before I got here?! Do I need to keep you on a leash?!” The nerve. The feeling of anger ricocheted through me. I feel like Peter sensed my anger, and quickly started to get rid of him.  
“Look, Four, I understand you may need to speak to Taura about a few things, but *cough* right now, I'm just a little busy with her right now…” He explained rather quickly.  
“Well can you both unbusy yourselves-“  
“ em sorry no can do, bye bye Four.” Peter retorted, slamming the door in his face. “I must say I'm very impressed with you for that dare.” He chuckled as I unraveled myself from him. He spun around and gripped me tightly by the waist, slamming me into his chest. The alcohol still has a tight grip on my head, making me slightly dizzy, I rest my hands on his chest for support.  
“What's gotten you all flared up?” I asked in a whisper, looking up at him. Guessing I forgot how much taller he is compared to me. He had that wild look in his eyes again and a smirk on his face.  
“I was just thinking about how sexy you look in my shirt.” He smirked and pressed his forehead against mine. His feet began to move, and mine followed. I was moving backwards. So he was moving forewords.   
“And you look very sexy without it.” I whispered huskily, running my hands over his muscular shoulders.   
“Oh really?” He whispered back. I was still moving backwards, and his hands were moving further down until they rested on my ass, making my stomach tingle. Something behind me creaked open, his hands scooped under my thighs and his lips found mine. I kissed him back, busting my hands with his hair. It was so soft and fluffy. With that, my feet left the floor and I felt my whole body being lifted off the ground. I squealed into the kiss, wrapping my legs around him. He chuckled and deepened the kiss. We're always told to focus on the now, and nothing else. Not the future. Nor the past. So that's what I did. I focused on the now. Just Peter and me.


	5. The Blue Ward

Taura’s POV

I wake up to my head pounding like mad. Great. The infamous hangover had begun. Luckily for me, Alcohol doesn’t give me short term memory loss. But like many others, I feel the physical effect. The inside of my mouth feels like sand paper and my entire body feels so weak. The bed beneath me feels like its spinning and every time I sit up the weight of my skull brings me back down. I roll on to my side, my muscles rejecting the movement. A black plastic coffee cup and a box of NSAID tablets rested on the bedside table next to me. What an angel. He must have already left, but not too long ago as the cup of coffee was still hot. There was a note stuck to the coffee, which I peeled off with my fingers and read. Which wasn't easy, he doesn't have the neatest of handwriting.  
‘Morning, Apples. I have an early shift today so sorry for leaving. I left you a coffee and some pills, you should probably take them. I hope it's still warm! There's a muffin on the counter in the kitchen, figured you wouldn't want much, Good luck in training today!  
Peter x’  
Shit. I forgot all about training. I check the time on the alarm clock, 7am. Fuck! Eric’s going to bury me alive for being this late. 

I fling back the duvet and sat up, picking up the coffee and downing it, taking 2 maybe 3 pills with it, not bothering to look at the dosage on the back. Thankfully, I was still in my clothes from yesterday so I didn't have to threat about getting dressed. Four is going to have a hissy fit. 

I slipped on my combat boots and loosely tied the laces before leaving the bedroom in a hurry, picking my phone up from its spot on the floor and slipping it into the back pocket of my shorts before half jogging out of the apartment.

“Nice to see you again.” A familiar voice spoke as I turned to shut the door. The guy from yesterday.  
“Leave me alone.” I whispered lowly, turning to face him with a disgruntled look.  
He seemed to bypass what I just said, “104, Peter Hayes. Interesting.” He smirked, revealing his smiley piercing.  
“I don't think you heard me, I said leave me alone.” He snickered at me and started moving closer, his blue eyes stabbing my own. I tried to move a way, shuffling on my feet to the side, but he slams both his hands on either side of me, forcing me back against the door. He leaned into me, his face inches away.   
“Not so fast.” He slurred. “What about that show you promised me?” He pressed his body against me, moving his leg between mine. I gulped, probably a little to loud.  
“I didn't promise you anything.” I seethed, avoiding eye contact with him as much as possible.  
“I don't think you know who I am, do you?” He laughed almost menacingly almost like the fairytales we were told in Amity. The Dauntless always played the villains.  
“No of course not.”   
“You should do. I know you very well.” He whispered into my ear before crashing his cold and dry lips against mine. I shivered and tried to scream, but no one would hear me. I heard him fiddling with the lock on the door and I frantically tried to force him off of me but the weight of his body had my hands strained to the side. Click. The bolt in the lock broke and I felt the door behind me move. In sheer panic, I raised my leg and kneed him in the groin as hard as my weakened body could handle. His teeth clamped down on my bottom lip, and I could taste the blood running into my mouth. His hands fell from beside me and went to clutch his manhood, in his moment of weakness, I shoved him off me and made my escape, running full speed down the corridors towards the training room.

I entered the training room at 7:45am, nearly 2 hours late. This is not going to be fun. Blood was running down my chin from my bust lip and dripping onto my shirt, leaving patches of dark red against the black. It hurt like a bitch.   
“Oh look she finally showed up.” Eric said, he didn't sound happy but he didn't sound angry either. I could see Four looking at me closely and his eyebrows furrowed into a knot presumably when he saw my lip. I continued to walk towards them both.  
“So, how much did he pay you?” Eric said, a hint of amusement in his voice.   
“What?” I asked as I stopped in front of them.  
“Peter. Four told me about what you two were doing last night. So how much did you earn?” He smirked. I would be mad at Eric, but I have no reason to be. Although, I have every reason to be mad at Four. First he calls me a slut, and now he's blabbing about my private life to someone I thought he hated. That rat bastard.   
“Nothing happened between me and Peter. We were going to, but we didn't.” I sighed, watching them both give me a questioning look. “Sorry to disappoint you, Four.” I smiled sarcastically. He didn't seem to notice my comment, but instead rushed towards me and cupped my face in his calloused hands, forcing me to look up at him. Brushing his thumb over my chin, he inspected the wound on my lip that was still oozing blood. He looked concerned, frightened, angry as he scanned my face.  
“What did he do?” He asked, gritting his teeth together and clenching his jaw. I assume he thinks everything is hunky-dory between us. But his caring side and brotherly nature wasn't going to change that I was still mad at him. I blank him, and I blank my face as well – much like Eric does – so I don't let my anger show. “Taura, what did he do?” I felt his hands grip my face tighter. I know who he’s referring to.  
“Peter, didn't do anything.” I growled lowly.  
“Taura, I'm not messing around!” Four shouted, grabbing Eric's attention from whatever he's doing.  
“And neither am I, he did nothing.” I tried not to let the tears pool in my eyes. But there goes my uncontrollable emotions again. Peter really doesn't deserve this type of ridicule. He has done nothing wrong.  
“Taura, he’s hurt people before and he will do it to you as well! You know what's happened-“ I cut him off.  
“Oh for god sake, Four! Just stop it!” I smack his hands off of my face roughly and shove him in the chest. He's just lucky I'm not feeling myself right now, otherwise he would be on the floor. “Your not my dad! And I'm not going to be your dog! Peter didn’t do anything! Why can’t you get that into your brain!” He just observes me carefully and had a hurt expression plastered on his face.   
“You should get that checked out, before it gets infected.” Four advices quietly, glancing at the stone floor beneath him.  
“Oh I’ll do it later! Let's just get this over with.” I said and pushed past Four towards Eric, who was already holding out a knife in his hand for me. He still had that same bored expression on his face as always, it never changes.  
“Taura-“ Four begins again. I roll my eyes and Eric must of caught it as he finally makes an input into this argument.  
“Four, if you going to act like a whiny, clingy bitch every time she says something you don't like then get out of my training room.” To my surprise he sticks up for me. That's one thing that confuses me about Eric. Most of the time he chooses to be an absolute ass and treat me like dirt, but sometimes he chooses to stick up for me (in his own way of course) or offer me advice.   
I hear Four leave the room, slamming the door behind him.  
“Thanks.” I say quietly, giving him a faint smile.  
He lightly jabs me with the point of the knife with a deadpan expression before saying, “Get to it initiate.”   
He's a strange man sometimes, always mysterious and always carefully of how much he reveals or says. Usually I would be weary of people as confusing as Eric Coulter, especially back in Amity I was always told to be careful who I interacted with. Even Four warns me not to mess with Eric.  
Nevertheless,  
I wrap my fingers round the knife, lightly grazing his own, and take it from his hand.

Training finished 6 hours later and me and Eric barely spoke. He would give me pointers here and there, not that I really needed any if I'm honest. I pulled the knives out of the target board on the wall, being extra careful not to catch my hand. My legs began to felt like jelly, and my head felt really heavy. Hangover. It's strange how alcohol can make you feel so happy but the next day make you feel like death. I grabbed the handle of another knife, my calloused fingers wrapping round it. Lights that weren't there before appeared in my vision. I didn’t realise this place had lights. They began to dance around, moving from place to place, making me feel incredibly dizzy. I gripped hold of the knife tighter, squeezing it for support and rested my free hand against the target.  
“Taura. Hurry up so I can get on with something worth my time.” Was that Eric’s voice? If it was, he's had a serious voice break. It was like listening to someone scratch a chalkboard, it was so high pitch I swear I felt my ear drums blow.  
“Taura! Get on with it!” Ouch.  
“Yeah, just-just a second.” I couldn't make out what I was saying, and Eric probably couldn’t either. The lights began to dance faster and the room felt like a sauna.   
And then it hit.  
All my muscles clenched tight, contracting in strange ways. I felt my knees buckle underneath me.  
And everything went black.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Bright white lights blinded my eyes as my eyelids peeled back and a painfully loud beeping besides me echoed In my ear drums. I was so sore. All my muscles had a deep, stinging ache to them and worst of all, I have no idea why. My head felt like it was being repeatedly smashed by a hammer - very similar to when me and Eric had a scrap – except this time I wish I would be knocked out.

The bright lights began to fade from my vision, and my surroundings became clear. Everything was blue. Where the hell am I? I looked downwards and I was on some sort of bed, and there were tubes and wires stuck all over my arms. One of which had a red liquid flowing through it.  
“Taura?” A voice spoke softly to me. Four. I let my eyes wonder on their own, moving my head was far too strenuous right now. Eventually, they found him. Boy, he was not a pretty site to look at. His eyes were all swollen and puffy and his hair was a greasy mess. He had been crying.  
“Oh thank god, you can hear me.” He sighed, clearly noticing my eyes head to his direction. I felt his calloused hand rest on top of mine, squeezing it lightly. I snapped my hand away.

Unfortunately for him, no amount of drugs was going to make me feel sorry for him.

“Get out.” I whispered, I was hoping for it to be louder, but turns out I have a tube shoved down the back of throat going through my nose.   
“Taura, I want to-“  
“Get out.” I repeat, this time a little louder but it was rather painful.  
“But-“  
“I said, get out.”  
“Tee?” A familiar voice spoke from next to Four. Tee. There's only one person who calls me that. I moved my eyes across to the source of the voice.  
No way.   
My mouth seemed to freeze half open, not letting words escape from my mouth. I'm speechless. I haven't seen him in 2 years, but his golden hair and green eyes were easily recognisable. It feels weird seeing him dressed him in all black, I'm so used to seeing him in a tight red shirt and loose brown shorts.  
“Raul?” I said his name.  
“Um… yeah it's me.” He murmured. “it's been a while, hasn't it?” He laughed a sad laugh. I just nodded, I don't know what to say to him.  
“Four, can you just give us a minute. It's been a while.” He smiled. He's always been the happy one out of us and transferring to Dauntless certainly hasn't changed that.  
“Yeah sure.” He stood up and patted Raul on the shoulder before waking out. Are they friends? The door clicked shut behind him, and for the first time in over two years, it was just me and Raul.  
“So…” he hummed, pulling up a plastic chair and sitting on it backwards, resting his arms on the space next to me on the hospital bed. An awkward silence fell over the two of us – the type of silence you get when you meet someone new and have nothing to talk about. “When Four told me you had moved to dauntless, I really didn't think we would meet in Erudite.”   
“Yeah, well I didn't expect to end up in Erudite.” I smiled, but it vanished as quickly as it came. He nodded, eyeing my face carefully.   
“What happened to your lip?” He asked, his thin brows furrowed into a knot. I raised my hand to my mouth and finding the wound. It had been stitched up with butterfly stitching, the doctors must have done it when I was asleep.  
“Oh… I cut it earlier in training, it's no big deal.” I lied.   
“Come on, Taura. I've known you long enough to know when your hiding something. And you've known me long enough to know you can tell me anything.” Raul gave me a pointed look. He’s right. I can tell him anything.  
“I thought moving to Dauntless was going to solve everything and was going to save me from everything happening in Amity.” I said. “I mean don't get me wrong, some parts have been great, I've met this amazing guy, and things have been going really well between us. I really like him, Raul.”  
“Ahh trust you to get your teeth into some of the hot dauntless men. Who is it?”   
“His names Peter Hayes.” I told him.  
“Ahh Drinky Hayes.” He laughed.  
“Drinky Hayes? You know him?” I quizzed. My head began to pound again, I didn't even realised it has stopped. Raul has that kind of Aura about him, a single smile can make a million pains and sorrows disappear.  
“Yeah, were close friends. We spent initiation together. I think you two would be good together.” Finally someone whose not going to give me every reason under the sun as to why Peter is someone I shouldn't mix with.  
“I thought you were gonna tell me to stay away from him, like everyone else.”  
“Well, Peter has made a few mistakes but so has everyone. I believe that the biggest act of bravery is seeing people for what they really are, not letting others opinions or views shape mine. Not everyone who has done bad things is bad.” He really hasn't changed.  
Have I been letting Fours views on Eric shape mine?  
“How did I end up here anyway?” As if on cue, a man dressed in a blue doctors uniform burst in through the door carrying a clip board.  
“Could you of knocked? Or is that something they don't teach you in Nose school?!” I rasped, it was still kind of painful to speak.  
“Taura…” Raul groaned.  
“I apologise, but we are incredibly busy and I need to discharge you as soon as possible.” I rolled my eyes.  
“Well?” Raul prompted. The doctor cleared his throat before starting,  
“Well after running several test we've deduced that she experienced what's called a tonic-clonic seizure, or more commonly known as a grand male seizure, this is a seizure that occurs on both sides-“  
“Yeah get over the nerd talk, I want to know what the fucks wrong with me!”  
“Its really not that simple, Mrs Daniels.” I hate that name.  
“Just, why did she have the seizure?” Raul questioned, clearing the tension.  
“Okay, we believe the seizure was caused by a drug overdose, more specifically Chlordiazepoxide anxiolytic.”  
“Chlorine anti-shit-a what now?” I baffled. What the fuck was this guy on about?  
“The peace serum.” 

 

Peter's POV

Sometimes I hate my job. Everyday I'm sat behind a desk for 10 hours, typing up reports, filing cases and signing papers. That's right, I work in the public sector. One of the ‘promised to be productive and exciting’ jobs; over the past year and a half I have come to learn different. It's absolute poppycock. I'm always surprised by how little our little home has developed. Erudite can give me self driving cars and bullet simulators yet they can't give me a computer that does all my work for me (which by the way, I'm happy to trade that for a flying car in a heart beat!)? 

Nevertheless, complaining won't get me anywhere.

The clock hung on wall ticked to 3pm and as quick as I could, I pressed the shut down button on the side of the computer and slung my leather jacket over my arms. Just as I stood up, the night shift walk in. Sam Crake. He gives me the same smirk he gives everyone, one that reveals his smiley piercing and his pearly straight teeth. I never really understood how his teeth managed to stay so straight even after training.

One thing you learn as a child in Candor is how to read people's expressions, and Sam’s smirk looked a little more smug than usual.

I wonder what he's so proud of?

“Hi pal.” I greet.  
“Hello Peter, just signing off are we?” He grinned and his deep black hair flopped over his eyes.  
“Yeah, yeah… not leaving you with much though, there's been no call outs all day and I doubt tonight will be any different.” I shrug making my way to the door. Sam grabs the cuff of my jacket rather too roughly, pulling me back towards him.  
“I've seen you’ve got a new girl on the scene. Nice score, mate.” Oh dear.  
“How have you ‘seen’?” I ask rather spitefully.  
“After the fight with Tris? I saw the way you held her, it was like… what do the Amity call it? A lovers caress.” He chuckled slightly, “Taura Daniels. She's a challenging character. I heard she was a bit of a loose wire in Amity-“  
I cut him off, “how do you know she was Amity?” I questioned.  
“Oh come on Peter, the entire population of Dauntless knows who she is.” He makes a point.   
“True…”  
“If I was you, I would bed her before anyone else can get their teeth in, you know dauntless style.” I may not be dauntless raised, but I know what he's trying to imply and I really don't like it.  
“If your implying what I think you just implied-“ this time he's the one who cuts me off.  
“Look, bro, all I'm trying to do is give you some advice – man to man if you will – it's worked for me and I'm sure it will work for you.” He smiled menacingly. I was aware of Sam’s previous encounters with other women, but I seriously thought he was passed all that. And now he's offering me advice on the same thing. I can't believe I fell for this.  
“Yeah, well we both know I'm not that kind of person.” Anymore. I walk out the office and slam the door.

 

9pm. After a good few hours in The Mess Hall with the other lads, I make my way back to my apartment. Unfortunately, not with Taura. I was hoping to talk to her after her training, but I haven't seen her all day – maybe it's just because she's small – which is unusual, she knows how to cause a ruckus.

I hope I didn't frighten her last night.

I continue my walk through the narrowing corridors and hallways. The layout of the compound manages to get more like a maze every time they extend. Originally I was on the top floor of the east wing, after a mass extension; I'm now on the top floor of the west wing (because apparently the adding of 100 new apartments means the whole building is flipped on its head)   
I managed to grab my spot on the top floor – usually for leaders or highly ranked officers only – through bribery. The rooms on the top of the east (or west if you must) wing are the largest and most luxurious, with what could be described as the best view of the city. From my kitchen window, you can see over the river and into the Amity fields. On the other side of the compound, where the public sector is usually located, you have a pretty gorgeous view of the factionless sector. So I guess I did well on the apartment front.

Or so I thought.

Everything you’re ever taught in your life follows this simple rule:   
The bigger the better, the more the merrier.  
That's one lie the Candor told well.  
The truth is, I could of never been more lonely in my life.

The sheer size of these four walls makes me feel so small, and brings to light how little company I choose to surround myself with. Everyone who says that big apartments all to your self makes you feel rich are wrong. They make feel poor. They make you feel like you live in poverty, the poverty of company.

I reached my apartment, 104, and something was off. Very off. The scanning device on the lock had been smashed and the lock inside it had been ripped out. I begin to panic. A lot. My mind doesn't even think about my belongings; it goes straight to Taura.   
What if she's been hurt?  
I lightly push the door open, stepping cautiously into the room. Conscious that there's someone inside, I slip my gun out of its holster and hold it out in front of me.   
“Hello?” I call, surveying the area. I notice the muffin I left for Taura was still there, completely untouched.  
Is she still here?  
I rest my gun on the counter, adamant that no one was here and begin to proceed to my bedroom, where I last saw Taura.   
Again nothing, accept from the empty coffee cup and the box of pills.  
Everything seemed to be in place.  
Until I checked the box.  
If I remember correctly, this was a full box of 12 pills this morning.  
There's only 6 left.  
Shit. Shit. Shit.  
She must of taken the other half.  
The recommended dosage is 2 every 6 hours. She's taken near about 3 days worth of NSAID tablets.  
I'm not a doctor, but I know that can't be good. I could just shrug it off and forget she even exists as a human, which is what I usually do with anything. But, for her, it's just too hard.   
So, I grab the box of tablets off the counter, clenching it tight in my hand and made my way back out the apartment.

Concentrating on my thoughts rather than where I was walking didn't pay out well for me, as I walked straight into the back of Eric. I could almost feel his anger bubbling inside of him, and my stomach almost did a back flip. Yes, I'm scared of Eric. But who isn't?  
“Sorry Eric.” I say quickly, trying to barge past him.  
“Wait Peter!” He called, gripping my forearm. Ahh shit. I turn to face him, keeping my composure as best I could. “Are you looking for Taura?”  
“Yeah I am, why? Do you know where she is?” Finally someone who may have an answer.  
“You might want to come with me.” He sighed, with maybe a little pity in his eyes but that's unlikely. He turned away and began walking back the way I came, I just stand there contemplating on what to do. This can't be good.  
“Well? Are you coming?” He deadpanned. That's what makes him scary, his ability to wipe out any emotion.   
I nod and follow on behind him. “Is she okay?”   
“I will let you be the judge of that.” He replied, continuing down the extended maze of rocks.  
“Why? Is she hurt?” I continue to question and a knot of nerves begin to bundle in my stomach. What if someone attacked her after I left?  
“If you pipe down I will explain in the car.”   
“Car?! Where the hell is she?!” I exclaim, this is really really bad.  
“Peter!” Eric scolds and I inwardly whisper sorry.

We reach the garage after a long walk in awkward silence. Well, it felt long. Eric pulls out his access card and swipes it over the security box.  
“Access granted.” Came the familiar voice of the robot and the lock door rolled upwards revealing a platform littered with trucks and various other vehicles.

Eric seemed to pick up his pace, walking briskly towards a truck with a head name of ‘Coulter’. I didn't even know you could own a personal vehicle. I should look into this.   
“I should probably explain where we're going.” Eric said  
“That would be useful.” I replied.  
Eric unlocked the car and climbed into the drivers seat, one foot than the other, as if it was second nature.   
I followed, climbing into the seat next to him. I assume that this truck must be used for major call outs only. There's scratches all along the outside and various chips just within the legal size on the windscreen.   
“You use this for major call outs?” I ask. Oops, I spoke.  
“One of the perks of being a leader.” He stated, letting out a slight sigh. “You get to put your money into something and then watch it be destroyed!” I just nod, asking is never the wisest thing to do in dauntless; so I don't. The engine revved and the truck started to chug to a start, pushing energy through the metal creature. “I suppose you want to know where we're going.”   
“That would be useful.” Eric put the vehicle into gear and started reversing out of the garage.  
“We’re going to the hospital.” He states. The hospital. I feel a knot being tied in my stomach.  
“Why?”  
“Peter, you and I both know that the dauntless have never been good as medics. Yeah sure, we can patch up some pretty nasty wound, wrap up some simple fractures but that's as far as our skills go.” The knot becomes tighter and my intestines feel like they’re being squeezed together. “Anything serious, that's down to the Erudite.”  
“Serious? What the hell happened to Taura?!” I exclaimed, my voice shaking slightly. We began to move away from the dauntless compound and further into the city.  
“She collapsed.” Shit. “She collapsed and had a seizure.” Shit.  
“Why did no one come and find me?!” I asked.  
“Your not her family.”  
“She has no family!”  
“Look, Four is technically her legal guardian-“  
“And I'm her best friend.”  
“That means nothing!”  
“It does to me.” I say truthfully. A silence fell over the truck, suffocating me.  
“Four didn't want you to know.” I feel the knot in my stomach explode and turn into a blaze. Is everyone just trying to piss me off today?! “He thinks you’re the cause of her seizure and thinks that you hurt her and whatever else.”  
“Really? No. He's the one whose hurting her, Eric. He inferred that she was some kind of untrained dog.”  
“I know but Taura needs to learn to follow orders, no matter how whiny Four is.” Eric states matter of factly. I've never understood why people fail to see pain when it's there, or fail to see there own faults. Maybe as a former Candor, I'm just pre-disposed to this skill, and for other factions it just takes time.  
“You don't understand.”

What's meant to be a 30 minute drive from Dauntless to the Erudite sector, seemed to take 30 hours. The whole way there I couldn't stop thinking about what was waiting for me in the hospital;

And now we're here. 

I never realised how big the city hospital was, probably because I've never had to be here for anything, but it's huge. Much like our own compound, it's a maze.

Except this one has signs.

Eric seems to know his way round here like the back of his hand, making his way through the building with great ease.   
“I should warn you.” Eric says, continuing to walk through the endless maze of wards. “Last time I saw her, she looked pretty rough.”   
“Way to lift my spirits.”  
“Not to say that she's still like that now. It's been like 12 hours.” Eric attempted to re-assure. “And don't answer me back again.”  
“Yes, Sir.” I roll my eyes.

Emergency room, the sign read as we turned onto the ward. Blue jackets were flying everywhere, running back and forth with notepads, boxes, tubes, blood. I can see why we have infirmaries. Three black figures began to make their way towards us. Dauntless. As they came closer towards us, and we came closer to them, I could make out who they were. Taura. She was being limply carried, her arm loosely hanging over the shoulders of a golden haired man and his hand gripping her waist tightly to help her stumble. Raul. I should be asking why he's here. I should be asking why he's got his arm round her waist, but I can't. Taura’s legs were barely moving, I could tell she was trying to lift them away from the floor but they just lightly grazed the air. She looks up, her hair dangling over her face, I see the pain in her eyes and the stitches on her lip and I know they are linked. Something happened after I left.  
“Man, she looks bad.” Eric said for me. And maybe there was a bit of pity in his facial features. He turns to me and says, “Go to her. I will keep Four from running his mouth.” I hadn't even noticed Four if I'm honest. I don't even say anything, I just run to her.   
“Peter.” She barely says, as she unfolds her arm from Raul’s shoulder, beginning to lean her frail body towards me. Raul grips her waist tighter, supporting her weight as gravity attempts to take over. But I take his place, wrapping both my arms round her and lifting her into my grip, pulling her close and gripping her tight. Taura wraps her arms around my neck lightly not even gripping my neck. I place my hands under her legs and lift her higher, forcing them to wrap around me. We don't even say anything, I just let her head fall limply into the crevice of my neck and rest there. This feels right.  
“Put her down.” Four tells me. I ignore him.  
“Oh come on Four, it's not like you and Tris are any different.” Eric interrupts. It's nice to know he has my back for once.   
“We’re not bad for eachother.”  
“Yeah, two stiffs, couldn't think of anything better. Must be a difficult relationship trying to decide on things, with you both being selfless and all.” Eric smirks and Four goes silent. Out the corner of my eye I see Raul with a grin on his face.  
“Don't worry, just good friends!” He points out, not that I would of thought any different.   
“Of course you are Amity! Pulling really isn't your forte.” I joked and I feel Taura smile against my neck.  
“Oh haha, I have my eye on you any ways.” He smiles, giving me a nod. “well, I have a meeting to get to but we should all hang out some time soon-“  
“Four not included?” I ask.  
“Umm-“  
“Don't worry, I wouldn't want to be around an amity fugitive having her face sucked by a candor rat.” Four spat, clearly trying to insult me more than Taura. By now some erudite staff were giving us strange looks. I had almost forgot where we were.  
“Four if you have a problem with me, we’ll have it out back in dauntless. I don't think you want to end up back in a cell now do you?” Four doesn't reply but just clenches his jaw.  
“Raul, can we catch a lift back with you. I'm already getting a headache and I don't think I can take much more of this.” Eric asked  
“Uh yeah course.”   
“Find your own way back Four.” I say, before turning away with Taura in my arms, following Raul out the building and back to our own compound. Taura’s breathing seems to slow and I can feel it grazing lightly over my neck sending jolts down my spine. I guess she's asleep. I still can't believe that I'm letting her do this to me; softening me like a marshmallow around her. I've heard a lot of the dauntless mention her name, surrounded by other words, most of those being male. That means she's liked and maybe a little too much. I know they see her for her curves and her face and those damn captivating eyes. But while her physical features are quite frankly second to none, I see her on the inside, which is far more beautiful than anything else. Only I get to see what's truly there, nobody else gets her but I do and every time I think about her like this my heart rate rises and a pit in my stomach forms. But I like it. I think I'm falling in love.


	6. Drunk Coffee

Taura’s POV  
I felt my body dip as I was rested on something soft, it smelt like coffee and air-dried sheets. It smelt like Peter. A hand stroked the side of my face gently, the callouses grazing my skin. Usually I would reject this movement, but with him I can't. Instead I lean towards it, my weakened body refusing to open its eyes. The warmth against my cheek disappear, leaving it feeling cold and empty. I heard footsteps moving away from me which, for whatever reason, woke me from my half-sleep. Maybe it's the feeling of him not being by my side or the emptiness I felt without his touch or maybe it was just the sound of the footsteps. Maybe it was all three. I watch Peter slip his shirt off over his head, stretching out his very toned abs. He pulls it off his arms and chucks it carelessly to the side of the room; leaving him in nothing but a pair of trackies that hung low round his waist. He spots me staring at him and gives me a wink. That makes me smile, and makes me blush a little too.  
“Sorry I didn't mean to wake you.” He says in his usual husky voice.   
“It's fine.” Mine came out as barely a whisper. Peter smiles lightly, making his way round the bed and climbing under the covers with me. Again, another move I would reject or fear, but it just feels so right.  
“You feeling alright?” He asked, turning onto his shoulder and leaning over me slightly.  
“Just a little weak, that's all.” I reassure. It's true, other than being weak and a little drowsy, I felt perfectly fine.  
“You got to be off your feet for a while, so Eric has kindly postponed your training for a couple weeks.” He informs me. “So I guess I have to take care of you for a while.” He says with a smug grin before planting a kiss to my unusually cold lips. I tense almost immediately, more from shock rather than fear. But still he pulls away anyway.  
“I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that.” He says with sympathy. Trust me to over react.  
“It's okay. I was just surprised.”  
“You sure?”  
“Yeah.” I smile, bringing my hand to his cheek, stroking circles onto the flesh, this movement was tiring enough. He observes me for a while, searching my face for something.  
“Okay, we need to talk.” He says seriously. A spike shot through me like a dagger. Oh no.  
“What about?” I ask.  
“Look I'm just say it.” He pauses. “I know that your married.” He sighs. I instantly pull away from him and wipe my hands over my face. This is not happening. Not now.   
“How- who told you?” I ask with a shaky voice.  
“Eric showed me your files.”   
“Shit. That stuff is in my files?!” I exclaim. Panic just surges through me and I feel my body begin to tremble. “Peter I can't go back there. I can't go back to him. I really- I can’t-“   
Peter pins my hips to the bed with his hands and draws shapes on them lightly. “I know, and no one is going to send you back there.” He soothes. “But, Taura, you need to tell me everything. I want to help you and I can help you, if you just tell me what's going on.” Why is this happening?  
“Peter, it's not that simple.”  
“You told me that something was going on, and I said I will fix it.” He said, there was a harshness to his voice.  
“Fine. Where do I start?” I give in. This was not going to be easy.  
“You have a busted lip. Why?” His questions were direct but his hands continued to draw small circles onto my hips.  
Should I lie? No. He will see through me like glass.  
“I was leaving your apartment, and outside was him-“  
“Him? Whose him?” He questions abruptly.  
“I don't know. Really I don't know. I had a run in with him the day before but I don't know his name.”  
“Okay. Carry on.”  
“He catalled me and mocked me for staying over at yours.” I could see his features move slightly. “And then he cornered me into the door and-“ I felt myself begin to choke up. “he forced himself onto me.”  
“How?”  
“He kissed me, after I told him to go away, and put his leg in between mine and then he tried to break the lock.”  
“How did you get away?”  
“I kneed him in the groin.” I state and he raises an eyebrow. “That's where I got this from.” I point at the stitches on my lip and I feel a tear brush my hand, so I wipe it away.  
“Okay.” He says, rolling onto his back and cupping his head with his hands. More tears began to trickle down my face. “sorry that I forced it out of you.”  
“It's okay.” I whispered.  
“Let's make a deal.”  
“ I don't want to make a deal, Peter.” Last time I made a deal, it didn't work out well.  
“Every night, starting from tomorrow, you tell me just a piece of your life in Amity doesn't matter what it is-“ oh no.  
“Peter, I don't think I can do that.”  
“Wait. And I will tell you something about my life in Candor.” I’ve never been intrigued into Peter's past or Candor life, but I can trust Peter with anything. Can’t I?  
“Okay… but whatever I tell you, stays between us.” I tell him firmly.  
“I promise.” He smiles at me. I can trust him.

 

We enter The Mess hall through the east entrance, not going to lie I don't feel like eating in here. Especially after last time I was here. Peter held me close to his side, his hand gripping my waist. I think what I told him last night must have bothered him, he's been doing his best to be slightly over protective. I guess it's nice to have someone who cares about you that much, but I already have Four playing the parent card, I don't need a mum and a Dad. I never have done before.

Out the corner of my eye I see Tris giving a death stare from her table of muppets. I bet she must of loved hearing about my collapse yesterday. Just thinking about her smiling at my pain makes my blood boil. I feel my body instinctively move towards her, almost through muscle memory, I don't even have to think about, I just end up resorting to violence.  
“Not today feisty.” He drags me away with his hands, planting a gentle kiss to my temple. I know he keeps on displaying his affection to me. I like that, and I like him. But I still don't know what to call this. We're not strictly in a relationship but we crossed the friends line a while ago. What do you call that?

I see a hand waving at us from a table about 20 feet away. It belonged to Raul and I feel a flood of relief flow through me. He makes me feel at home. He is my home. Peter guides me to the table and introduces me to everyone, who already seem to know who I am. I sit next to Peter in the middle of the wooden bench.   
“Morning Daniels.” Raul says from across from me. He's always called me that since I was little, amongst another nicknames.  
“Morning Christopher.”  
“How you feeling?” He asks, smiling at me kindly.  
“Not good. But I was still dragged down here.” I give Peter a look.  
“Hey, the doctor said I need to keep an eye on you, and if that means dragging you down here. I will.” I chuckle at his response.  
“I saved you a coffee by the way.” Raul said, shoving the cup under my face.  
“Thanks. I could do with it!” I took the coffee from his hands and let the warmth spread through me like a fire, making me feel instantly strong again. Suddenly, The bench dipped and I looked to see who sat next to me and a cold swiftly wiped away the warmth. Oh no. This is not happening.   
“Sorry I'm so late down, had some business to take care of.” It is him. Greasy black hair. Shiny white teeth and a gnarly smilie piercing. This is bad. He notices me, and a light chuckle escapes his lips. “Ah a new member to the social group. It's nice to meet you, I’m Sam.” He says, smiling, and holds his hand out to me. Sam. I'm not going to forget that name any time soon. Peter's eyes were watching everything he did and everything I did closely, I think he can tell something's wrong. To play along, I took his hand and shook it lightly giving him a smile. I'm not sure why I played along, I'd much rather Peter or Raul know about him and this all be over with but apparently I'd much rather stick it through and not get anyone involved. Sometimes I hate having Amity in my blood.  
“Umm nice to meet you to, I’m Ta-“  
“Oh I know who you are, everyone knows who you are.” He says with a grin on his face. “Taura Daniels. You have quite a reputation, you can’t go a day without overheating someone mention your name, or how gorgeous you are.” He says with a wink and I feel his hand move onto my thigh. I should do something. But I don’t.  
“Hey watch it, this one’s mine.” Peter pipes up, barely sounding serious. Sam’s hand grips my thigh tighter and I could feel his callouses through my jeans. I try to use my own hand to remove his, but with no success, he just moved his higher. “Right babe?” Peter says, placing a hand on my shoulder, snapping me out of my thoughts.  
“Um yeah.”   
“Hey is Taura coming to the pit with us later?” Cody asked, one of the other guys sat on the table. Sam’s hand is still moving up my thigh and I’m now desperately clawing at his hand to get it off.  
“I forgot to ask, Taura?” Peter asks me, and I think I’m letting my stress show.  
“Uh yeah sure, it sounds great.”  
“You don’t have to go if you don’t feel like it you know.” He says, rubbing my back, which I’m sure is a soothing move but it just makes me more stressed. I have one guys hand on my leg, and another’s on my back. “Taura?”  
“I said it sounds great okay?!” I shout, losing my cool. I was met with stoney silence and Sam’s hand finally let go of my leg. “I need some fresh air.” I say standing up from the table. The dizziness I feel reminds me I’m still very ill and I have to use the table for balance.   
“Taura.”  
“I’m fine! Peter, I can manage.” And I walked out.

I go to the roof. The one place where I feel safe, where I can find solitude. I look around, and everything seems so small yet so big at the same time. I remember coming up here on my second day, letting my legs flap in the air, it felt so soothing. You look out and you see all the people buzzing around, busy with their day and you feel full and content. But then you look out past the wall, and it’s all wasteland with nothing there and you feel lonely and empty. That was everyday in Amity. Just to put into perspective. I sit down on the wall ledge and let my legs swing through the air, just like before. I look down and I see how easy it would be to let go. Just edge further across the ledge and-  
“Isn’t it about time we made up?” I snap my head around to see Four stood behind me. He carried a pack of a beer in his left hand and a phone in the other. Have people been looking for me? “I saw you run out the canteen, came to check on you.”  
“Give me a break Four. All you want is to tell me I’m nothing.” I spit and turn to face the city again.  
“I’m being serious Taura. I only said those things because I wanted the best for you.” He told me. I shook my head, I don’t believe what he’s saying.  
“But I was wrong. About you, about Peter, about everything.”  
“Who gave you a pep talk?”  
“Not someone you would of expected probably.” He sat down next to me on the wall, letting his legs hang over the edge like mine.  
“Who Tris?”   
“No, Eric.” Eric. Eric backed me up through all this? Four was right, I didn’t expect him to be the one giving Four any stick about it. Infact I would of expected him to tell me to suck up and put up. “After last night at the hospital, he came to my apartment and had a rant.”  
“Why would he do that though? When ever he speaks to me, he’s always harsh, condescending, rude.” I say, baffled by the situation.  
“I think he sees something in you no one else does. Whether that’s a good or bad thing, I don’t know.” Four tells me, shaking his head slightly. “Beer?” He poked me in the arm with the tip of a bottle, which I took without another word; popping the lid off and taking a swig of greedily.  
“We used to be best friends. What happened?” He asked, I could feel him looking at me, with a beer bottle to his lips and a poised expression.  
“I don’t know.” I say bluntly, I don’t have time to have these types of conversations.  
“Maybe being in the same faction has brought to light how different we really are.”  
“Opposites attract.”  
“What do you mean by that?”  
“Opposites attract. People with opposite personalities are drawn to each other and form strong relationships while those with similar personalities often clash.” I say matter-of-factly, pressing the tip of my bottle to my lips and absorbing the burning liquid.  
“I wouldn’t say we have similar personalities-“  
“No we’re completely the opposite” I cut him off.  
“I don’t follow.”  
“We should be able to get past this.” I take another swig.  
“You’re right.” He responds. “That’s why I came up here, I was wrong.”  
“About what?” He seemed to pause.  
“You.”  
“What about me?” I asked.  
“I thought you were too irresponsible to handle yourself, especially after your fight with Eric.” He says calmly. I turned to face him with probably a little flare in my eyes.  
“I’m not against the idea of being friends, but one thing I’m going to get straight. I’m in control, of myself, of what I do, who I’m with and my actions. So enough of you putting me on a leash and trying to control my environment. Got it?” I gulp down the rest of my beer swiftly and throw the now empty bottle off the roof and into the sea of ordinary colours.   
“Okay. And for Peter-“  
“Don’t give me the ‘he’s bad news’ bullshit.” I spit, the alcohol probably kicking in.  
“I wasn’t. I don’t like Peter for personal reasons, but I’m okay to the idea of you two being… you know… together.”  
“Thank you!” Finally, some closure in the whole situation. It’s a relief to not have to argue with him over this anymore, like a weight being lifted off my shoulders.  
“So can we shake hands and end this feud now?” He asked with some exasperation in his voice as he sticks his hand out. I look at him this time, locking eyes with his.  
“Okay.” I state, slipping my hand into his and squeezing it. Something about this tells me this isn’t over. There’s something in his eyes that seems off; there’s a type of anticipation flare in his eyes, like he’s waiting for something to happen. I’ve always been good at reading people’s thoughts and emotions, so I can beat him in whatever he’s planning, if I just plan ahead. 

This is not over.

 

Peter’s POV

This is wrong. This is so wrong. 

Ever since my conversation with Taura last night, I can’t help but relentlessly wonder what she’s going to tell me. And what I’m going to say.   
Im curious, probably too curious for my own good. But I’m a former Candor, so what should I expect, it’s my nature. 

Raul sits across from me, typing away while sipping on a coffee. Classic Amity, peaceful with just a enough spark (that spark being coffee), it makes me wonder how Taura came from such a faction. 

I could just ask him. And he would tell me everything. 

But I shouldn’t.

My mind ways out the pros and cons of this situation. Pros: I will know what to expect when she tells me and won’t act like an ass. I will have some answers as to why she’s a little jumpy. Cons: she will tear me a new one (to be honest, that could be a pro in some way…) 

“You alright mate?” Raul pipes up with a disgruntled look on his face, his mug poised to his lips. It’s only then I realise I’ve been staring at him for the past 10 minutes.  
“Yeah, yeah…” it couldn’t hurt to ask could it, I mean the pros way out the cons. “Actually can I ask you something?” This could be a long shot.  
“Go ahead.” He smiles putting his mug down on the coaster.   
“It’s about Taura.” He’s facial expression becomes serious and his lips pursed. “I just- don’t know much about what happened to her in Amity-“  
“There is a reason for that.”   
“I know, it’s just-“ I can’t believe I’m about to say this, “I asked Taura about it last night, and she said if I wanted to know anything to ask you.” I feel my insides churning as there’s a long pause.  
“Alright.” He nods and I let out a heavy sigh of relief. “What do you want to know?”  
“Her file says she has no blood relatives, but that can’t be possible.” I say, and he seems to pick up what I want to know.  
“I would imagine her parents are not listed for her own safety.” He tells me.  
“What do you mean?”   
“Her father is Moriarty.” He sighs. Moriarty. That name is probably the most famous around Dauntless. Especially for all the wrong reasons. I’m struggling to make the connection. She cannot be the daughter of the Moriarty.  
“The Moriarty?”  
“Yeah, James Moriarty. The criminal mastermind who we have locked up in Erudite for terrorism, treason, murder, rape, theft and arson. Now if you know anything about his crimes, you know what happened to her mother.”   
“I don’t know much about him really.”  
“He murdered her mother after an ordeal about 10 years ago, Taura was only 8 years old at the time.” I couldn’t even imagine what she had to deal with, her own mother killed at the hands of someone who sworn to love her. And she was left alone with him. Just the thought alone makes my blood boil. “Unfortunately, Moriarty was found not guilty for the murder so he walked free with Taura still under his care.”  
“Was she okay?”  
“Actually yes, as far as I knew everything was fine between them, until she turned 13.” He shakes his head. “I’m assuming you want to know about the marriage?”  
I wasn’t going to ask but now he mentions it. “Um yeah.”  
“Well within Amity, we have a hierarchy of ‘richness’ if you will, the richest owning the most land and the poorest owning the least if any. The Moriarty’s came under some of the richest. When Taura turned 13, James fell under some financial difficulties and started up some type of private trading business within the faction, no one is really too sure on what was the field of trade, but we know it was vast. It ranged from drugs, explosives, alcohol, even family.” There was a sadness in his eyes as he looked down.  
“What do you mean ‘even family’?”   
“His business also fell into difficulties a few years later, Taura was 15. Now at this age, in Amity we permit arranged marriages by the parents. But this crossed the lines of arranged.” He pauses again and I could hear a catch in his throat when he gulped. “Taura was sold by her father to the Daniels family.” I felt a pit forming in my stomach and the weight of it causing my face to drop.  
“That’s where she gets her last name from?”  
“Yes. She was forced to marry their youngest son, Adam Daniels, who actually was 23 years old. He then made her work relentlessly for his family, like a slave. I mean he was violent to her, seriously she was covered in bruises and blood everyday and she must of lost a stone in a week one time. He raped her almost every night for his own damn pleasure! And I had to sit back and watch. I couldn’t do anything.” I can’t even make sense of this right now, but everything finally adds up. The cut on her back the night she disappeared, the jumpiness, the rejection the other night. Everything makes sense. And I am pissed. Boy am I pissed to god.  
“That’s fucking awful.” I say.  
“Tell me about it. Don’t treat Taura differently because of this, she already had Four doing that. It’s the last thing she wants.” He says pointedly. I nod in recognition.  
“You want to know anything else?” He asks, going back to his coffee.  
“No-no that’s it…” I say. This was a bad idea after all. I watched the clock on the wall tick to 5pm and I turn off my computer and fling my jacket back on. “Well that’s the end of my shift!” I cheer.  
“You still up for tonight?” Raul questions me.  
“Yeah course, I’m bringing Taura.” He seems to contemplate my response.  
“If that’s what you want.” I nod and head out of the office.

 

Taura’s POV

I must of gulped down to much goofy juice to have the common sense to do this. To knock on such a door , takes guts, I’m told even more than mine.   
Coulter.  
I’m an idiot.  
I press my knuckles against the door three times, pushing my thoughts aside. Well actually, the alcohol was doing that for me. The door abruptly opens just as I’m about to knock again and I almost fall right through the door. But, fortunately, I catch myself before I fall right into his chest.

I look up and I swear I see an element of surprise in his face. But that’s impossible, everyone knows Eric doesn’t have facial expressions.  
“Taura? What the hell are you doing at my door?!” His words were meant to be harsh and a little mean, but I hear concern in his voice.  
“Well no need to be so rude! If your busy, just say so, I will come to your office tomorrow!” I say, swaying slightly on my feet. I feel his eyes survey me up and down, in their same blank way as last time.  
“Are you kidding, you’re hammered. Get in!” He says, gripping my arm and pulling me into his apartment. “Sit.” He commands, like I’m a dog, and waves his hand to his couch. I take his offer and drop myself into it.  
“I had one bottle, I’m barely hammered.” I rolled my eyes, and a giggle pops out and seems to linger for a while.  
“Yeah but with the medication your on, it’s like you had 20!” He almost shouts while shutting the door. “What were you thinking?! Do you know how dangerous that was?!”  
“Why are you trying to act like you care, you know you don’t.”  
“Are you here because of what I said last time?”   
“About opening up to you? You helping me? No, I don’t need your help, I don’t need to tell you anything, I don’t need to tell anybody anything. Why do people keep asking me?!” I rant. Shit, I just did what I wasn’t going to do.  
“You just opened up to me. I should get you drunk more often, this is fun.” He smirks a little, moving to what I guess is a kitchen and turning on a coffee machine. Never would I of thought, Eric Coulter would be babysitting me for a hangover. “Your meant to be resting for a few weeks, not wondering the compound completely plastered.”  
“Resting is boring.”  
“I’m surprised your able to stand, you had to be carried all the way back last night. Not that you would know, you were asleep the whole time.” He explains. Not that he needed too, Peter had already done it for him.  
“I’m fine.”  
“Clearly.”  
“Even plastered, I can still sense sarcasm.”  
“Because you have good experience with handling alcohol.”  
“Whats that meant to mean?”  
“You get drunk a lot in amity?”   
“Recreational alcohol is banned in Amity.”  
“But that never stopped you.”  
“I’m not an alcoholic, you smart mouthed asshole-“  
“Did you have something you needed to ask me?” I hate the way he uses my anger issues to manipulate me.  
“Well I didn’t come here for a party.” Even though that would be nice.  
“Get that down you.” He presses a cup full of coffee into my hands and sits opposite me on a small wooden table. I didn’t even see him approach me. I take a sip of the coffee and instantly feel my head slow it’s whirling. “So what is it?”  
“After the hospital, you went to see Four-“  
“He spoke to you? Surprised he took note of what I said to be honest.”  
“Yeah well-“  
“Did you make up?” For god sake stop changing the subject.  
“Sort of. He said you told him to make up with me-“  
“Twisting my words slightly but-“  
“Why?” I cut him off this time.  
“Why what?”  
“Why are you trying to protect me all of a sudden? Why are you defending me to Four? I thought your intentions were to make me as miserable as possible, so why do you care?” There was a long pause with Eric observing me closely. I take another gulp from my coffee to calm the nerves developing in my stomach.   
“I don’t care. For the sake of saving oxygen, you should of left your last question out, it was pointless.”  
“Then why-“  
“Don’t pile on questions, initiate. I will tell you what you want to know. I couldn’t give a shit about you and whatever happened in amity or whatever is or whatever will happen to you. The fact you believe I did just shows your as gullible as Four, Peter and Raul.”  
“Don’t you dare bring Raul into this.”  
“Shut the fuck up, it’s not like I give a damn about your feelings.” It’s amazing how he can just switch this mood on and off like a switch. One minute he was inviting me into his home and trying to care for me, and now he’s back to his usual self; trying to bring me down at every chance he gets. “I’m not trying to protect you, I’m protecting the information you have and hold. Quite frankly, if I could put your memory and brain onto a SD card and cut you up like a piece of meat I would happily do so.” I’m surprised by how much that hurt me. But the idea that he would kill me if he had the choice caught me off guard. “Let’s not kid yourself here, initiate. You and I both know that your not going to survive here in dauntless. Your worthless, nothing more than some Amity criminal that thinks, thinks, she can be something. You should of probably kept up your job as a prostitute in Amity. At least then you had less chance of ending up factionless.”  
“Shut up.”  
“I didn’t even want to oversee your initiation, but I was forced to by my boss. After looking at your file, I knew you were going to be a disaster. But I didn’t realize how bad you would be.”  
“Shut up.” I’m starting to see red and I could feel the blood rushing through my body like an automatic heating system.  
“Your father made the right decision to sell you. He got his money’s worth.” That would usually be my boiling point, where the pot just spills over. But this time, it cools me down like air conditioning. I feel everything in my body slow to normal and I finally notice the tears falling into my coffee cup. I look at him dead in the eye and I see shock. This was his plan all along. To let my anger boil over and I will spill everything. You can tell he’s erudite.   
“If you ever speak of that again.” I pause, for what I don’t know. “I have broke one of your bones already, don’t think I won’t be tempted again.”  
“Don’t act like you’re the queen B. Just because you have half of the Dauntless testosterone poking around your ass doesn’t make you wanted, let alone needed.” He sneers. “Taura, lets just make this clear, even if you succeed in training, you and I both know that Dauntless just isn’t for you.” I just stare straight at his face, and it’s blank, there’s nothing there again.   
The door burst open and Raul entered. “Hey, Eric you text me saying Tee’s here I thought I would- um, am I interrupting something?” He stands just inside the door way, with his hand against the handle.  
“Just get me out of here.” I say quietly, locking eyes with Raul.   
“Drop her off at abnegation while your at it. She will fit in better there.” Eric snarls, his glare not moving off of me. Almost like a reflex reaction, my arm chucks the coffee over Eric’s face. I don’t feel any remorse. He deserved that. I don’t see him flinch but I can tell by the ember in his eyes, he’s pissed.  
“Taura what are you doing!” Raul shouts to me and quickly restrains my arms behind my back. He knows me way too well.  
“I can see even your best friend treats you like a criminal.”   
“Don’t get Raul involved with this!” I snap.  
“Tee lets go.” Raul whispers to me.  
“As If I’d listen to you.” Eric says  
“And you think I’d listen to you?!”  
“I’m basically your boss, I think you have to.” This is all a game to him. He’s loving this, even with no expression I can tell.  
“Taura, leave it now.” Raul whispers again while firmly gripping me to his chest.  
“I was starting to trust you, Eric! I actually thought that behind this dickhead exterior there was some kind of human.”  
“Shows how gullible you really are.”  
“I was about to tell you everything. And all the information you wanted about whoever, you would have had! But now your egotistical, greedy erudite ass, will never know!” I shout and Raul wraps an arm around my waist to restrain me. I’m probably thrashing about in his grip, but I’m too angered to realize. 

Eric stands up from his position on the coffee table and approaches me and Raul. I could now see the coffee dripping from jaw and on to the floor, making a tapping noise. He’s so close, my face is almost touching his chest.   
“Taura Daniels.” He takes in a heavy breath. “I will ruin you.” He drawls and I watch his lips move in sync with his words.  
“I’d like to see you try.” I mock his speech pattern just as Raul clearly decides enough is enough and starts to move me away.  
“Right we’re leaving!” He speaks up this time and drags me out the apartment with out another word to Eric. 

He walks me down the hall for a while, with me still strapped to his chest, until we’re a safe distance from Eric’s quarters.  
“Can I Let go of you now?” Raul asks me calmly.  
“I said yes like 5 minutes ago.” I state and he drops me onto my feet. There was silence, I don’t turn to face him. I don’t want Raul to see me in this state again.  
“What’s going on, Tee?” I don’t respond and just gaze my eyes down the stream of dark corridors. “Tee?” He says. “Tee, come on.” This time he grips my shoulder and spins me around to face him. His eyes lock with mine and it feels like they are searching them. His face kind of sinks and he looks worried. I’m not sure why actually, am I crying? Am I not? Are there bruises on my face? Has one of the stitches on my lip popped?   
“Taura, what do you feel?” I’m confused by this question yet at the same time I understand it more than anything else in the world.  
“Umm… I don’t know. In there with Eric, I felt angry, upset, betrayed and now… I feel nothing. I’m empty.” He just stares at me with a worried expression. Classic Raul, cares about me more than himself, sometimes I think that’s the one flaw to our friendship.  
“Okay, lets just get you back to Peter’s and we’ll talk.” He puts an arm round my shoulder and pulls me in close, kissing me on the temple before walking me down the hall. Talking about these types of things is not my strong suit. In fact, it scares me. It means I have to bring up my past, the thing I’m most scared of.

We enter the apartment and I immediately go to collapse on the couch, leaning my head back and looking up to the ceiling. The bright light hanging from the centre of the room was blinding my eyes, which is probably the alcohol, but I couldn’t care. I just continue to stare.   
“If your going to stare at the sun, you might as well put these on.” That was Raul’s voice, he slips a pair of sunglasses over my eyes even though I just ignore him. He slouched next to me on the couch and I could feel his eyes burning into the side of my face.  
“Taura-“  
“You used my full name. If your going to lecture me on how Eric’s going to do everything he can to destroy me, don’t.” I tell him, still keeping my eyes on the ceiling.  
“I’m not.” He says. “I’m worried, Taura.”  
“That’s not a good quality to have in Dauntless.”  
“This isn’t you.”  
“This is me. You just haven’t seen me in years. I changed.”  
“No, Taura. In the hospital I saw you, my bestfriend. But now, I can’t see her.” He explains. I should feel hurt, sad, anything. But I don’t and I don’t know why.  
“Do you remember when we first met?” I ask him. He laughs a little.  
“Yeah I do.”  
“We had just started chores.”  
“We were like 6 or 7.” I could almost hear him grinning, I didn’t have to look. It went quiet again.  
“We used to talk about our future.” I start. And I felt his face sink again. “How perfect our lives would be, remember?”  
“Yeah.”  
“What happened? My voice started to break. “When did everything get so messed up? This isn’t how it’s supposed to be.” I take the sunglasses off and face Raul. “I don’t know who I am anymore. I feel so…”  
“Lost.” He finishes for me. This is what I like about him, this is why we stayed friends even after 2 years of not speaking, he understands me.  
He rolls his head to face me and I see a smile playing on his lips. “Do you remember when you used to make me watch all your favorite films over and over again. Like Cinderella, finding Nemo, beauty and the beast.”  
“God don’t get me started.” I laugh.  
“It used to drive me nuts.” He chuckles.  
“This is a pep talk.”  
“Well I finally ask you why you like watching the same movies over and over again. And, remember what you said?” He throws me a pointed look.  
“I liked knowing how things end.”  
“Exactly.” He sighs. “Growing up, I never knew who I was supposed to be, so I just spent all my time apologizing for absolutely everything. I felt other people deserve more than I did.” He smiles, flashing his pearly teeth. “And you know what I’m finally learning?”  
“What?”  
“The key is to finding out who you are. And you are Taura Daniels.”  
“What happened to the Raul Christopher who just wanted to get high and climb trees?” I snicker and he laughs to. Maybe he’s right, I’ve spent so much time trying to be who I want to be, instead of being who I really am. Even after finding out I had a Dauntless aptitude, I didn’t think I wanted to be one. So I stayed in Amity, causing trouble the way a dauntless would. But I ignored it. And to be honest, even though now I’m in dauntless, apart of me still feels like this place isn’t for me. Maybe Chicago isn’t for me.  
“I don’t know.” He responds quietly. “People have a lot of misconceptions about Dauntless, yes we cause trouble and are maybe floating on the borderline psychopathic. But we don’t go around shooting people because we enjoy it or doing backflips on the edge of 10 story buildings because we are in sync with the devil. Or even throwing coffee over our leaders faces just because we like seeing them get angry.”  
“Well…”  
“Okay, unless your Taura Daniels!” I laugh. “We do that because it’s who we are. Initiation here isn’t about gearing you up for the next civil war, it’s about finding where you belong and who you are.”  
“Wow Joanna 2.0 is in the building!”  
“Shut up!” He slaps my thigh playfully and I smile lightly.  
Suddenly, the door swings open and Peter walks in. “Oh Taura, Raul… I wasn’t expecting to see you both here, at least not in the same room.” He stares at us blankly. “Um how did you guys get in here?”  
“Oh the lock on your door was broken.” Raul responds. Amongst everything that has been going on lately, I almost forgot about the incident with Sam the other morning.  
“Oh right.” Peter shrugs, shutting the door.  
“Actually I should be leaving.” Raul says standing up and walking towards the door. He stops at Peter and they have some kind of verbal exchange and then walk out the room shutting the door behind them.

Peter’s POV  
“Peter, can I talk to you outside?” Raul whispers to me as he heads towards me. Shit, I’m busted.   
“Yeah, um sure.” I respond and following him out the door.

Once we were out of hearing range of Taura, Raul starts to talk.  
“You really need to help Taura.” He tells me, and the look plastered on his face tells me this isn’t a time I can make a sarcastic remark.  
“Why what’s going on? Why were you with her and why did she look like such a mess?” I ask frantically.  
“Eric sent me a text earlier saying ‘your chummy came knocking on my door pissed out her brain. Come get her, she’s in a bad way.’ When I went round there, he wasn’t wrong; she was drunk, and still is, and a mess. Tear stained, bloodshot eyes. Anyway, I got there and they were having another blow out and Taura was really really pissed. I’ve never seen her that angry. I didn’t really get what they were arguing about but he said something about how her father sold her off. How he found out about that I don’t know.”  
“Well, Eric’s a very powerful man, He probably has eyes and ears everywhere.”   
“Your right. Taura got angry and chucked coffee all over his face, I ended up restraining her yet she was doing all she could to escape. This whole situation between her and Eric has gone too far. It needs to end.”  
“I don’t know what Taura is like usually but she’s been acting strange since she arrived here. I don’t think it’s Eric that’s been putting it on her.”  
“I don’t follow?” Raul looks at me confused. I’m surprised no ones filled him in on all this or he’s heard about all of this.  
“The first day she was here, she got into a fight with Eric in the canteen and broke his nose. Yes, Eric was probably partially to blame there but I’m pretty sure there was something else on her mind. The next day in the training room, she started saying some strange things while knife throwing. The day after that she was in training with Eric, got some kind of phone call and ran away back to Amity.  
“Wait what? When was this?!” Raul raised his voice and the look of panic in his face made me feel equally as anxious.  
“Um I don’t know, like 3 days ago.”   
“Do you know anything about what happened there?”   
“No she wouldn’t tell me, but she had this huge gash on her back.” Raul froze like a board. And the more I think about it, the more it makes me freeze. Now I know more about her past, the pieces are starting to come together. Adam.  
“Does… does Four know she went back to Amity.” He asks shakily.  
“Yeah he helped me find her.”  
“Good, good. Look I need to you do something for me.” He says and places his hands firmly on my shoulders and looks me dead in the eye. “Starting tomorrow, you don’t let her out your sight, you don’t let her set foot out of that apartment and if she does, you go with her. She needs you right now. You need to help her, because I’m not sure how much longer it will be before she brakes.” He warns me. His last sentence scares me, a lot. I care about her, and the thought of something terrible happening puts a huge pit in my stomach.  
“I’ll do everything I can do to help her.” I tell him sincerely.  
“Show her you care about her. That’s all she needs.” He lets go of my shoulders. “I will see you both in the pit later.” He says before turning around to walk off.  
“Actually Raul.” I say, forcing him to turn around again. “if Taura doesn’t want to go, I’m going to stay with her.” He smiles and nods before turning on his heel.

Taura’s POV

Peter re-enters the apartment rubbing his hands over his face.  
“You were a while, everything okay?” I ask quietly, fiddling with the end of my sleeves.  
“Yeah, it was um just something to do with work that’s all.” I can tell he’s lying, his eyes are dotting all over the place and he’s stuttering on his words. But I won’t ask him, I know if it’s something important that I need to know he will tell me. Or at least I want to believe that. I just nod instead.  
“Hey, do you still feel like going to the pit later?” He questions, quickly changing the subject. I don’t. Mainly because the medication is starting to kick in and is making me incredibly tired. But partly because I don’t want another confrontation with Sam, especially not after this morning.  
“No actually, I think I will just stay here and rest, I’m feeling kind of tired.” I tell him honestly.   
“Okay that’s fine. We’ll stay here.” He smiles at me. I’m taken back by this, I thought Peter would go ahead without me.  
“Oh no, Peter you go have fun, I can take care of myself.” I say.  
“No.”  
“Yes, you have to, Raul and the others will be disappointed.”  
“No, I’m not leaving you, I promised last night I would look after you and keep you off your feet. Which I haven’t exactly done, so starting tonight, you have my full attention.” He grins. Flicking his jacket off, he walks over to me and drops himself into the couch beside me.  
“Well seen as you make it so appealing…” I tease him, tapping my chin. He laughs and puts his arms around me, drawing me closer to him and I rest my head against his chest.  
“Trust me, you’re the most appealing thing about this.” He whispers into my ear, the heat from his breath sends shivers down my spine.   
“Peter?”  
“Yeah?”  
“What is this?” I say, looking up at him.  
“What do you mean?” His eyebrows knot tightly into a bunch and cocks his head sideways.  
“This. Us. What are we?” I ask and start to fiddle with his shirt, more to calm my nerves than anything. I can see him thinking carefully about his answer.  
“Well, what do you want it to be?” He asks as his response.  
“I want to be more than friends. More than best friends.” I watch Peter’s lips pull into a smirk and there’s a devilish glint in his eyes.  
“You see, I’m not too sure exactly what you are trying to tell me here.” He teases, putting on a fake confused face.  
“Oh my god, you would make such a bad actor!” I joke, grinning at him.  
“Honestly, I’m not acting. I’m genuinely confused, Taura Daniels, what are you trying to ask me?”  
“Peter, come on stop it.”  
“I just want to know what you want-“  
“You know what I want to ask.” I give him a pointed look.  
“Well-“  
“Stop playing games.”  
“I’m not honestly-“  
“Peter!!!”  
“Just ask me.” He laughs and I bury my head into his chest and let out a heavy sigh. I can feel him laugh.  
“Stop trying to humiliate me.” He doesn’t respond for a while and then lifts my chin off his chest and looks at me in the eyes.  
“My answers yes.” He says before pressing his lips against mine. It was soft and sweet, spreading warmth through me like a fire. He pulls back and smiles at me.  
“Is this happening? Are we in a relationship?” I question in shock. This has to be the best feeling in the world.  
“Oh no I thought you just wanted coffee.” He teases and I roll my eyes at him.  
“You big idiot!” I laugh before pulling his lips back into mine. This is a new beginning. And right now, it feels like nothing could take this feeling away.


	7. Did You Miss Me?

. Peter’s POV.

My eyes slowly peel open to the sound of heavy banging. Bang. Bang. Bang. I have to put all my energy into trying to listen to where it was coming from.  
And I come to my conclusion.  
The door.  
Great.

Lifting my body off the mattress, I run my hands through my hair to wake myself up. Whatever this is about, it must be important. I don’t think anyone’s insane enough to be banging on my door at… 5:30am. Beautiful.  
Bang.Bang. Bang.  
I was about to shout the classic ‘I’m coming.’ But after looking to my left, I decide against it. Taura was still asleep, her arm lightly draped over my waist with her fingers curled into a ball. I smile. I smile a big smile and move her frail arm off of me, being careful not to wake her. She needs the rest.  
Bang. Bang. Bang.  
Ughhhhh.  
I roll my eyes and climb out of bed, the coldness of the floor meeting my bare feet, not something I particularly enjoy at… 5:31am!   
I make my way through the apartment at speed. This better be good.

I open the door and I’m kind of shocked, yet slightly relieved to see my favourite golden haired lad standing at my door.  
Raul Christopher.  
Before I could say anything he bursts past me shoving me out of the way. I just stood there speechless as he picked up the tv control off the counter and started flicking through various channels.  
“Please, do come in.” I say sarcastically, shutting the door behind me.  
“This is really really bad. Like really bad.” He rushes, still continuing to fly through the channels. This is very odd behaviour for him. It’s rare to seem him act out.  
“What’s really bad?” I ask, standing next to him. The scrolling slows as he reaches the news networks.  
“I’m completely freaking out. I didn’t know what to do, so I came straight here.” I don’t like this.  
“Is this to do with what you said yesterday?”  
“No. It’s exactly what I never thought would happen.” He says firmly and slowly.  
“I don’t understand. What’s going on?”  
“Shut up and watch this.” He says before finally choosing the CBC network. The only inter-faction news station there is.  
The screen changes from some report on the factionless situation to the live newsroom. As usual, a pop up at the right hand side of the screen displays details about the upcoming report.   
And this time it shows an image of a man being guided out of a prison cell by two erudite guards.  
This man was dressed in a grey suit with a matching grey tie, the shirt was so white it even made his sickeningly pale face look tanned. Thick brown hair was swiped back and styled neatly, curving round his ears. This man was facing the camera with a charming yet terrifying smirk. One that we all know all to well. Oh and his eyes, which sat on top of his defined cheek bones, were big and a dark green that was almost dark enough to be black.  
This Man was Moriarty.   
“Oh. My. God.” I say slowly, just as the report roles on.  
“Shhhh.”

Breaking news coming in from the erudite sector. Master criminal, who was locked up in the high security prison in the Erudite Quarters for terrorism, treason, murder and many other crimes, James Moriarty has been bailed out of prison. Charles Abarami has the latest on this report.

I don’t bother listening to the rest of the report. I know what they will say. I turned to Raul and he has the definition of fear written on his smooth facial features.  
“He won’t find her here.” I say.  
“You don’t know him like I do. He has eyes everywhere.” For some reason several names rush through my mind. Four. Sam. Eric. Tris. All are on my list of suspects. And I will take them down one by one. And I will do it fast.  
“Keep an eye on Taura for a few hours would you?” I rush before picking up my jacket and hurrying out the door.

Taura’s POV

My head feels like it’s being ripped in half as I attempt to sit up, every attempt failing and bringing me back to the pillow. I don’t want to stay lying down, I want to stand up. I will feel better. I try once more to sit myself up, but the pain was just to much, and I scream. I scream so loud I don’t even notice Peter entering the room or his arms wrapping around me. He sat there stroking my hair and shushing me and swaying me. I begin to feel calmer and I can finally stop my screaming. My arms instinctively wrap around his waist, squeezing him tight. For some reason, Peter felt smaller than usual, his chest didn’t completely engulf me like it usually does and my arms can wrap all the around him.  
“You’re not Peter.” My mind seems to be speaking for itself.  
“Well of course it isn’t, Silly.” They say, chuckling slightly. I know this voice, just can’t put a name to it.  
“Who is this?”  
“Wow. I’m offended Tee, I thought you would remember me over Peter.” Of course.   
“Oh it’s Raul.” I say in a dopey voice, I released the tension I didn’t even realize I was holding and just let my body slump into him limply. I don’t even look up at him but just sink my head into his shoulder. Just like old times.  
“Do you want to go for a walk?” He whispers sweetly, his voice lightly vibrating against my head.  
“No.”  
“Well why the hell not?”  
“It hurts.” I reply honestly.  
“Never stopped you before.” He says trying to force me up off the mattress, standing up himself.  
“Yes but that’s when my face hurts not my brain, dumbass.” I respond curtly, glaring at him. He just grips my hands between his and begins to hike me up onto my feet. I make some kind of groaning noise as the pain grows in my head.  
“Come on, just to the living area and we’ll go slowly.”  
“Why?”   
“Because the doctor said this will help with the side effects, their going to be bad when you wake up but once you get moving around you will feel much better.” He says, finally getting me onto my feet. I stumble slightly, my knees buckling under me. Raul quickly moved his hands to grip my waist, keeping me on my feet. “Steady.”  
“How come everyone seems to know more about my medication than me?”  
“Because you were either Loopy Lucy or Sleepy Susie whenever it was explained.” He knots his brows and smiles. “Here put your arms around my neck, it’ll help..” He actually picks my arms up and places them on his shoulders one by one. I don’t whether he’s just trying to help me walk or if he’s playing games, but I hope it’s the latter. Raul’s arms gripped to my waist feels slightly awkward seen as me and Peter are in the relationship. Yet he’s not even here. To be honest it makes me feel like I’m betraying him. However, I know Peter will understand, Raul is like an older brother to me. As children we were inseparable and we still are. Not including the last two years.  
“Did Peter tell you?” I ask him as we take the first step. He goes backwards and I go forwards. Pain radiates through my entire body; so far I’m not seeing the doctors point. Raul grips me tighter, drawing me closer to his chest.  
“Tell me what?” He responds blankly as we take another step, this time it hurts more and I dip my head into his shoulder. I hear him breathe in heavily which certainly baffles me. “Um…you okay?” He asks.  
“Yeah, it just hurts.”  
“Your doing well, we’re almost at the door.” I just nod and sigh as we take another step. “Anyway, you said Peter should of told me something?”  
“Oh yeah, well me and him…”  
“You and him…” He’s seriously playing dumb.  
“Are you know.” I pause to gasp as we take another step backwards. “Together.”  
Raul immediately stops in his tracks and freezes, his face dropping and his hands leaving my waist, leaving me to keep my balance with my arms.   
“Oh… I didn’t know you guys were that serious.” He stutters, gulping slightly. This is strange.   
“Neither did I to be honest.” I smile inwardly. And clearly we still aren’t. I feel my knees begin to buckle under me and I immediately grip Rauls neck tighter. He didn’t seem to get the cue and just stands there still completely frozen. My knees snap beneath me and instead of Raul catching me, he falls with me and we land in a heap on the floor. Raul was on top of me, balancing himself on his elbows now he has finally snapped out his day dream.   
“Fuck. Taura I’m so sorry, I spaced. Shit, are you okay?!” He flaps, lifting himself onto his feet.   
“No, you shithead.” I spit half jokingly.  
“Here give me your hands.” He reaches out to me and my grips my forearms tightly, lifting me up back onto my unsteady feet. I stumble a little but hold onto Raul as hard as I can, probably cutting off the blood to his hands momentarily. ”did you hit your head?”  
“Yeah but-“  
“Are you feeling tied at all.” What has gotten into him today.  
“No.”  
“Are you sure?” He asks again.  
“Yes! What is up with you, your acting all frantic.”   
“Nothing. I’m fine.”  
“Raul, I know you. And this isn’t you.”  
“Taura, it’s nothing you should worry about, I promise.” He says before helping me into the living room. He wasn’t holding my waist this time or holding me close but instead just holding the edges of my arm.

He rests me down on the couch and immediately the fatigue and nausea hit me like a train.   
“Raul can you get me a bottle of water?” I ask, dipping my head into my knees to stop the room from spinning.  
“Sure. You feeling alright?” He says before walking over to the kitchen island.  
“Yeah, just um a little light headed.” I mutter exasperatingly. He just nods and takes a bottle out the fridge. “What time is it?” I ask, the water reminding me of my medication.  
“Ummm… 9:30.” Raul says. That’s 2, 4, 6,12 hours.  
“I need my meds, they should be on the counter, orange vile.” I tell him, waving my hand around pointlessly.  
“Oh yeah, found it.” Raul says, grabbing the bottle. “Where’s the other meds?”  
“What other meds?” As far as I remember there has never been any others, but I never pay any attention I just take what’s there.  
“The blue vile, you were prescribed two different drugs.”  
“There’s only ever been one vile. But I’m not really sure what the hell i’m taking.” I respond.  
“Right… I’m probably just imagining things.” He stammers with a poised expression, which only tells me he’s not imagining things. He walks over with the bottle in one hand and the vile in the other. He seemed reluctant to hand me the vile, holding it close to him and inspecting it before cautiously passing it to me. I quickly swallow 2 of the white capsules in one go as Raul moves to sits next to me. He seems unusually anxious and sits with his elbows against his knees. I feel equally as anxious because of this, he’s usually the calm one so it’s rare for Raul to get anxious or stressed and if he is you know it’s something serious.  
“So… you and Peter.” He says with his right leg shaking.  
“Yeah, me and Peter.” I smile. It feels great talking about us like a couple.  
“…Cool…” He says quietly, nodding his head lightly.  
“That’s a different reaction to the one at the hospital, I thought you were all for this?” I ask.  
“I am. I’m happy for you.” He responds and lightly smiles towards me.  
“Well then what’s up with you? You’ve been acting weird since I told you about Peter.” I say, pressing a hand to the back of his shoulder.  
“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.” He gives another light smile before facing the floor. I know he’s not telling me the truth.  
“Oh come on Raul, I’ve known you for almost my entire life.”  
“Yeah apart from the last two years.” He snaps and I immediately feel my heart sink. I can’t explain what happened in those years. On choosing day we were meant to both choose Dauntless and go together- that was a deal we made. However, I didn’t, I chose Amity, and by that time Raul had already chosen dauntless. To this day, I still don’t know why I stayed.  
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened.” I tell him.  
“No, I know, it’s not your fault whatever. Don’t worry about it.” I wish he had told me earlier that he felt annoyed about what happened. “I guess it’s just that we were always so close in Amity, I mean we even had a relationship like yours and Peter’s, and then we separated for 2 years with no connection. And now we finally find each other again and everything’s back to how it was. I’m just worried that now your getting with Peter, I’ll get forgotten about and I will loose you again. Like when Adam arrived.” I understand where he’s coming from, and I must admit it’s a fear of my own. Amongst others. The thought of losing Raul again saddens me and feel almost guilty for leaving him behind for so long.  
“Raul- nothing like that’s going to happen.” I respond.  
“I know, it’s just-“  
ATTENTION. THIS IS A PUBLIC SAFETY ANNOUNCEMENT.   
A robotic voice sounded over the tanoy along with several sirens.  
THE DAUNTLESS COMPOUND IS NOW UNDER THE LOCK DOWN PROCEDURE. ALL NON-ESSENTIAL STAFF PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR ASSIGNED ACCOMMODATION AND STAY THERE UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.  
This was followed by several beeps and a repeat of the message.  
“What’s going on?”  
“Don’t stress about it, this happens a few times. It’s probably just a faulty system.” He reassures with a touch of nervousness in his voice before standing up.  
“Where are you going?”   
“I’m essential staff. I have places to be.” He says before making his way to the door. “Just stay here and don’t move.” 

Peter’s POV

Papers and black jacket flurried the public sector halls of the compound. Just minutes ago the entire compound was put on lockdown; no ones allowed in, no ones allowed out. These are the situations I hate the most, you never know whether it’s is a fault or this is the real deal.

To make this particular situation worse, Raul and me are both ‘essential staff’ , meaning our skills and attendance are required from the first siren to the last siren. And Taura, my girlfriend, is left on her own in an apartment with no lock and is about stoned as the factionless on medication. I just need to know she’s safe.   
“Peter!” I hear Raul’s voice from behind me and I turned around to see him pacing towards me with several folders in his hand.  
“Raul, what’s going on? Is this a fault or what?” I ask. Raul being one of the key operators in the sector, he receives all information before me.  
“I wish I could say that.” He says solemnly.  
“What do you mean?”  
“This is the real deal, Peter. Security is down so now the entire compound is a walk in closet.” He tells me firmly. Fuck. Security is down. There’s no cameras. No volt locks. The garage is like a museum for bombs. And Taura is alone.  
“What about Taura, she’s safe right?” I ask, probably hyperventilating a little too much.  
“She’s in your apartment, she can barely walk so there’s not much chance of her leaving.” He pauses,  
“If your pausing for affect I would keep it moving.”  
“Look I know your worried about her, so am I. But in order to keep her safe we have to keep the compound safe. You’ve been her long enough to know this.” He says. “Now let’s get to it.” He pats me on the shoulder before heading into the conference room filled with staff, fire arms officers and… Eric and Sam. Two of my ‘Moriarty suspect  
“Alright everybody listen up!” Raul’s voice boomed, silencing the commotion. “As you may of already gathered, this is not a false alarm. It appears our entire security systems has been cut off which makes our job a heck of a lot harder than it already was.” A few mutters rise in the room, probably discussing the possibilities. I spot Sam stood in the corner, he says nothing and just stares at his watch as if he’s counting down until something. He wears his usual smug smile that spreads into the apples of his cheeks. I have no doubt that he plays some part in this. Eric, however, sits at the end of the conference table, his leg bobbing rapidly up and down and his pen tapping against a stack of paper. Again, I have no doubt that has some role in this.  
“However, we will control this situation in the same efficient way we always have. Right know the Erudite are working on getting our security back online but until then we are going to have to go by hand.” A secretary hands Sam a folder, just like everyone else in his area, I presume it’s a run down on protocol. He swiftly looks over it and then follows the secretary out the room cautiously. I assume he doesn’t want anyone to notice him leave, but I do.  
“I want my firearms to swarm the building and cordon off any open doors. Any suspicious people, you shoot, I don’t care if their innocent. The rest, I want you to be on the receiving end for emergency calls or whatever.” I’m the rest. “Right, lets shut this down.” Raul states firmly and everyone filters out the room, including me.   
“Peter.” I hear Raul’s voice as I get to the door, I turn around and I see Eric slumped in a chair looking rather disgruntled and Raul leant against a wall.  
“Shut the door.” Eric growls lowly. This doesn’t sound good.  
“What’s this about?” I ask, crinkling my brows together.  
“Peter, you know as well as I do whose behind this.” Eric snarls at me.  
“Do I?”   
“Yes.”  
“We think Adam is behind this.” Raul tells me curtly, his eyes locked on the opposite wall.  
“Daniels?”  
“Yes.” Eric rolls his eyes.  
If I’m completely honest, I don’t see how they came to conclusion.  
“I don’t see how that’s possible.” I respond.  
“Are you stupid?!” Raul shouts, smashing his fists onto the metal table. He’s really acting odd today. “That man has been after her for years! And if you think he doesn’t know about you and Taura, think again. He watches her like a hawk. It wasn’t just a coincidence that 2 days after she arrived in Dauntless, she took a trip back to Amity. And it wasn’t just a coincidence that as soon as she finds happiness and security in you, her dad is bailed out.” Raul rants, getting closer to me. I can almost see tears in his eyes. “He’s after the money she made for him. And he will do anything to get it!”   
“If that’s so then why didn’t you tell everyone to look for him?” I ask.  
“Because if we did everyone will know about Taura’s past, and we don’t want that do we?” Eric pipes up, looking a little less emotionless and a little more pissed off.  
“I suppose…” I mutter. None of this makes any sense in my mind, but maybe it does in theirs.  
“This stays between us, at least until he’s dead!” Raul shouts at me, his body shaking with it. He seems incredibly stressed by all this and it worries me slightly. “Let’s see if you can keep this one quiet.” He shunts me in the shoulder before storming out.   
“Just me or is he acting suspicious?” Eric questions, his face deadpanned with a slight hint of annoyance.  
“You hit the nail on the head, he’s been acting strange since the hospital.” I agree, staring at the door Raul recently exited.  
“So since Taura re-entered his life.” Eric said, getting up from his seat and straightening his jacket.  
“Yeah, I guess.” I respond.  
“Maybe there’s something going on between them.” Eric says and I turn around.   
“I doubt, me and Taura are together now, she wouldn’t do that.” I say. Wouldn’t she?  
“Maybe that’s true, but it doesn’t mean something hasn’t happened in the past.” As ludicrous as it sounds, he has a point. Taura and Raul have always been close, they grew up together why wouldn’t they? And that opens up multiple opportunities for a hook up.  
“You make a point.”  
“That’s my job.” He says, with a flat voice. “When you see Taura can you tell her to stop at my office tomorrow, I have somethings to settle with her.”   
“If your going to attack her again, she’s already broken, don’t shatter her.” I tell him firmly.  
“The other night I took it too far, I want to apologise in person.” A minute ago I wanted to listen to him, but now I want him to zip his mouth. Apology my ass.  
“Yeah, I will tell her you said sorry.” I turn on my heel.   
“Peter, I mean it, I shouldn’t of spoke about her father like I did.”  
“Actually, that’s what I was meant to ask you, how did you know that Moriarty was Taura’s Dad?” I ask firmly, turning back around. Eric’s eyes widen, I hope from surprise. The look quickly faded, however, and was replaced by a shiveringly smug smile.  
“I didn’t. Until now.” What have I done?

Taura’s POV

As I stretched my self out from my sleep, the pain in my head faded and for once I felt completely okay. I felt no pain. 

I decide it would be best to finally get something to drink as the burning pain in the back of my throat felt like a growing fire. I lift myself off of the couch, peeling back the blanket I had put on earlier. It’s 4pm now, and I can still hear the faint buzzing of an alarm in the corridors. This must be pretty serious if we’ve been on lockdown for 8 hours. Raul said it was likely to just be a fault, but that means it’s still unlikely to be an actual incident. So by laws of probability, it’s still possible.  
And this time is the unlikely possibility.  
All my mind can focus on is the well-being of Raul and Peter. If anything happened to them, I don’t know how I would react. They are the closest things to a stable family, it would be like losing a brother or father.

I get to kitchen counter by myself without a single trip or fall, which I feel rather happy about. It means I can finally do what I like without Peter or Raul babying me. The fridge was full of anything but water; beer, fruit drinks, protein shakes etc. I have to make my choice carefully as I’m not to keen on having a repeat of yesterday. I decide on a travel bottle of apple juice and quickly drank it before taking a hand through my hair. For once I finally feel at peace with myself, I felt happy and I felt okay. A smile creeps onto my face and I can’t help but laugh.  
This past week has been crazy. So much has happened, yet so little has changed. I’m still married. I’m still in some big mess. Raul is still my friend.i still have unexplainable emotional issues and apparently I’m still as weak as the Amity. Thanks for the compliment Eric.  
I’m not going to lie about being over yesterday’s incident with Eric, I’m still very angry. His vile words keep constantly repeating in my mind and as much as I hate to admit that he’s got to me, there’s no point trying to hide it.  
Sometimes the right thing to do is to accept your losses and forget your wins.  
“You should probably get that door fixed.” A flat voice rang through the apartment, strangely unfamiliar yet so so familiar at the same time. I hear the lock on the door click, yet I don’t turn around. The locks broken? I suppose the person Raul and Peter are looking for is, ironically, right where they don’t want to look for him. Nerves run through me like an athlete, and every sense rises to attention.  
“Aren’t you going to say hello to your father?” I instantly feel my heart freeze and stomach does several back flips. This is not happening.  
My body twists on its own to face the one man I’ve been restlessly trying to escape from. I should of known, the second I’m free, he’s trying to put me in his web again.  
My father- not that he deserves that name- stands there dressed in a grey tweed suit and his hair smoothed back with way too much gel, trapping me inside my safe house.  
“Oh Taura, my dear dear child, you really have been living under a rock.” He still owns the most expressive face I’ve seen, his eyes constantly widening and shrinking just like his smile.   
“Your meant to be in prison.” I spit. I probably look like a deer in the headlights at the minute.  
“Your meant to be in Amity.” He mocks. “I rather enjoy this surprised look you have on your face. Just like you can enjoy mine.” He says, pulling an over exaggerated shocked look, his mouth now wide enough to fit his fist in and then it disappears. “Because I’m surprised Taura – really I am – and maybe just a tad… disappointed.”  
“My life goal was never to impress you, it was to get away from you.” I snarl, my voice shaking ever so slightly.  
“And you failed… yet again.” He mutters in a sing-song voice.  
“How can you call yourself Amity when you’ve killed more people than the dauntless.”  
“Every fairytale needs a good old fashioned villain.” This man is a psychopath. My father is a psychopath. What does that make me? “You need me, or your nothing. I made you. I made you into the dauntless fugitive. I made the girl who attack’s leaders, the one who picks fights, drinks her sorrows away, commits crimes. As much as you would hate to admit it, we’re just a like you and I. In fact, you are me.”  
“How do you know about that?” I ask.  
“I have my fingers in many pies, my sweet.” He pulls a Jazz apple out his pocket, holding it in his right hand.  
“And that’s why you have come to kill me?” Why would He be here for anything else?  
“Kill you? Hmm no.. no,no. Well I’m going to have to kill you eventually, it’s only fair. But no, I’m saving it up for something big.” My own father, has a plan for my death. I have always suspected it (he did it to my mother, why not me as well?) but hearing it come out his mouth, makes it seem so much more real.  
“How can anyone of bailed you out?”  
“I just broke into Dauntless, you don’t think I can worm my way into someone’s TV?” He grins. I should of known no one would ever sympathise for him out of their own will, Moriarty had to force them.  
“Of course.” I sigh, rolling my eyes.  
“Every apartment room has a personalised TV screen and every person has their pressure point; someone they would like to protect. Easy Peasy.” He takes out a pocket knife, flicking it open in his left hand.  
“Is that how your going to do it? Slice me?”  
“Ah that’s the problem. The final problem.” He drawls and props himself up on the edge of the kitchen island with a single hand. “Have you figured out what it is yet?” I would have no clue. But that’s what he wants. “Eric knows, Raul knows, and if he’s how I remember him Peter will know. Four knows, Tris knows. Even your pal Sam knows.” Sam? Of course.  
“How can all of them know?”  
“I did tell you but did you listen?” He sings in villainous tone. Immediately his fingers begin tapping in a rhythm on the counter. I watch intently, analysing each flex of a knuckle. Beat. Rest. Beat. Beat. 10110… binary code.  
“You have broken into almost everything there is to break into, and half the time you don’t even enter those buildings? And what for?”  
“Taura, my sour apple, I think you already know.”   
“I don’t. But I can guess.”  
“Go on…”  
“You don’t want the materials, you want the control.”  
“Very good. Because…”  
“Because nothing in Dauntless, Candor, Erudite, Amity or Abnegation could ever match the value of the key that can get you into all 5.”  
“I can open any door, anywhere with just a few tiny lines of computer code.” He walks towards me, pocket knife clenched in a hand with the blade facing me. I back away from him, fearing my life. “there’s no such thing as a private bank account anymore, or a mine. There’s no such thing as secrecy. I own secrecy.” My back hits the wall and my father- Moriarty- was face to face, eye to eye. I had no choice but to look at him. All I see is evil. Pure Evil. “Nuclear codes; I could blow up Chicago in alphabetical order. In a world of locked rooms the man with the key is the king. And honey you should see me in a crown!” He grins a large grin, the light reflecting off his overly whitened teeth into my own dark eyes.   
“So this Dauntless hack is like an advertisement? To show the world what you are capable of?” I tell him more than I asked.  
“And you are helping. All the people you attracted, all those who payed you. They came begging for me, ironically.” That was a time in my life that I didn’t expect to be reminded of. “I have a big client list; Rogue leaders, intelligence communities, terror cells. They all want me. Suddenly, I’m Mr Sex.”  
“You can steal any amount of money, yet all you care about is the highest bidder?”  
“I don’t. I just like to watch them all competing; ‘daddy loves me the best!’ aren’t ordinary people adorable?” He drawls. “Well you know, you’ve got Raul, I should get myself a living one…” I have no clue what he’s talking about and I don’t like it.  
“Why are you doing all this?”  
“It would be so funny…” He talks over me, ignoring my question.  
“You don’t want the money or the power, not really.” I hear a crunch, and look down to see the red apple, with the pocket knife stabbed deep into its core. “What is it all for?”  
“I want to solve the problem, our problem. The final problem.” His words or ice in my mouth, freezing me from speaking another word.  
“It’s going to start very soon, Taura. The fall. But don’t be scared, falling is just like flying, except there’s a much more permanent destination.” He clutches my face in his hands. They were rough and jagged, like the hands of an old man.  
“I never liked riddles.” I gulp.   
“Learn to.” He growls, squeezing my face tighter. I tried not to let the pain show, but I couldn’t help the tears pooling in my eyes. “Because I owe you a fall, Taura.” My father raises a hand and sends it across my face, causing me to crash to the floor in a heap and a pool of blood to form in my mouth. “I owe you.” He slurs, looking down on me before dropping the wounded apple on the floor next to me and walking away. I hear the door click shut and yet I still stay lied on the floor, staring at the red apple.

ATTENTION: THIS IS A PUBLIC SAFETY ANOUNCEMENT.  
THE DAUNTLESS COMPOUND IS NOW DECLARED TO BE SAFE.  
YOU CAN NOW MOVE FREELY AROUND THE COMPOUND.

It had been an hour since we were officially allowed to leave our apartments, and yet the halls were still empty. I guess it doesn’t take much to send the Dauntless into hiding. I’m the only one wandering these halls. All I have done is replay my conversation with My father- I mean Moriarty- too many times. The tears continue to fall while the drugs and alcohol send my body swaying from wall to wall. Side to Side. Like some kind of dance. I feel two hands grip the sides of my waist, pushing my shirt up slightly so his hands rest on the bare skin of my stomach. They were freezing.  
“Hey who is this?” I slur and my voice echos in my ears.   
“You know who I am.” Their hot breath tickles the back of my ear as they force my back into their chest. Of course, his names Sam.  
“Ahh you’re Sam right. Your hands are very cold.” I murmur.   
“A girl like you shouldn’t be out here all alone, why don’t you come with me to my place?” He whispers and I can feel his lips against my ear.  
“Hmmm okay.” My mind doesn’t even think of the consequences, the drugs seem to stop it from doing that.  
“Maybe you can put on that show you promised me?” He begins to walk me down the hall.  
“Show? I have to warn you, I’m not very good at dancing.” I giggle.  
“No, but I’ve heard your good at other things.” Sam says before pressing his lips to the skin of my neck. I don’t like it. I want him to stop. I try to move my neck away but my coordination is so distorted I can’t tell if I’m moving my neck towards him or away from him.  
“Actually, I want to find Peter. Take me to Peter.” His lips leave my neck and I try to squirm from his grip but it was useless.  
“Peter is still stuck at the office, he will probably be a while. Don’t worry, I will take very good care of you.” I hear a click and immediately I’m pushed into a darkened room. Even with drugs and alcohol in my system I felt scared. More scared than I ever have been.  
“I don’t want to do this.” I say, but I get ignored and Sam presses his cold and dry lips to mine. It feels awful and weird. His hands roam my body, forcing my shirt up way too high. I try to push him off with little success, his hands swatting mine away as I attempt to swat his away.   
I manage to disconnect his lips from mine, “No. Stop it. Please.”   
“What? Your not scared are you?” He turns his attention to my ear, biting on it hard. “I thought you wanted to be dauntless?” He whispers, before pushing me backwards into something soft. Realizing what was happening I begin to shuffle backwards, further on to what seemed to be a bed. He followed me on his hands and knees, like a predator and I was his prey. My back hit the head rest and Sam jumps at the opportunity to grip me by my hips and pull me underneath him.  
That’s when I turned frantic and desperate.  
I did everything I could in my power to get him off me, to end this assault. This repeat of history. I kicked, I slapped, I screamed and shouted until my ears hurt. And nothing worked. No one could hear my cries for help. He couldn’t hear me. I couldn’t even hear myself any longer.


	8. chapter 8- the morning after

Taura’s POV

My back slid down the stone wall excruciatingly slow. I’m drunk. I’m high. Yet I’m sober. Everything was crystal clear, there was no drunk haze distracting me from reality and the complications of my life.

I feel numb.

2am. Everyone is probably on a manhunt for me right, orchestrated by Raul or Peter. I don’t want them to find me. I don’t want anyone to. What I need to do is process everything that happened yesterday. My encounter with my father and… last night, which I don’t wish to think about, but some memories refuse to leave. Sam is like ink; once he leaves his marks, they never leave no matter how much ice you put on them. I know this from experience, he’s just like the other men, they have no other motivation then to watch you squirm under their presence. So, you try not to squirm and act like an adult, but they still manage to worm they’re way in. You just have to sit and wait, dreading your next encounter, knowing it lies just around the corner.

A single tear hit the back of my hand and that’s the first time I notice the thousands of other tears falling from my bruised eyes. My whole face was black and blue and the wound on my lip was dripping blood (again) down my chin and neck. There were scratch marks all up my arms and legs, some even going deeper than the skin. My thighs were bright red, with small green bruises appearing in some places, they were so sore. My clothes were torn, one sleeve to my shirt was completely ripped off and there were several holes dotted about. What have I done?

“Hey.” A voice echoed down the corridor. I turn my head slightly to see Eric walking towards me. Oh no. “Taura? What on earth are you doing down here at this hour?”  
“Just leave me alone.”  
“I need to- my god!” He gasped, and for once I see an emotion on his face. It was shock. His entire body went stiff. I must look worse than I thought.  
“It’s bad isn’t it?” I say.  
“Bad is a fucking understatement, what the hell have you been doing?”   
“Everything I could.” I whisper, running my hands over the scratches.  
I look up at Eric and see him gulp before sticking a hand out towards me.  
“Peters been looking for you.” He can’t find me.  
“I’m not going to him yet, he can’t see me like this Eric. He will freak out.”  
“No shit Sherlock, I almost had a heart attack!” Yeah right.  
“Stop acting like you care. We already had this conversation.”   
“I may strongly dislike you, but not enough to leave you out here looking like this.” I eye him suspiciously. “Come on; your clearly drunk, tired and frightened. Let’s get you a coffee and you can sleep on my couch. I’ll tell Peter where you are.” I shouldn’t trust him. I shouldn’t trust anyone right now. But I feel I have no choice. I take his hand, my own tremoring rapidly. He grips it firmly and helps me onto my feet. I feel like I can barely walk, my legs almost completely numb. Eric’s hand let’s go of mine and I struggle to find my balance, falling back against the wall. I feel Eric’s hand quickly go to my waist, hiking me back up and against him. My body instantly rejects it, pushing him off me, sending me back against the wall.  
“D-don’t… just let me walk.” I tell him.  
“And you can manage that?” He gives me a pointed look.  
“Yes.” He looks at me for a while, with his pierced brow raised.  
“Mmm no you can’t. Just let me carry you, okay or it will be 2pm before we get anywhere near my apartment.” I guess I have no choice in this, so I throw my hands to the side in defeat and Eric swiftly lifts me up with ease and began to walk down the hallway.   
“You’re a pain in the ass Daniels.” He sighs.  
“You didn’t have to help me you know, I expected you to just walk past me.”   
“Im not completely heartless you know.”  
“You come pretty close though.” I hear him chuckle slightly. I’m still not entirely sure how much I trust Eric, or should trust him, but right now I don’t have any other options but to let myself adapt to the idea. Even after all the times he’s been rotten to me, somehow, he’s the only one whose been completely there for me in the rough patches. The day I disappeared. Defending me against Four. My seizure. Babysitting me. And now this.

Maybe he’s not so bad after all.

I feel my eyelids begin to flutter, opening and closing. I try to keep them open, keep my body in a state of conscious but the looming tiredness made it very difficult. 

Eventually I gave up trying to resist and let sleep take over my body, leaving me asleep and vulnerable in Eric Coulter’s, of all people, arms. This will not be fun.

HORNNNN. Immediately I shot up, the deafening blare waking me from a sleep. I was in a familiar room, yet I had no idea where I was. I was lied on a black leather couch with a white blanket draped lightly over my waist.  
“What the hell was that for?!” It was only then when I heard Peter’s voice that I was made aware of the three men surrounding me. Peter. Eric.Four. They all stood there staring blankly at me, or at least Eric was. Four had a look of confusion stretched across his features, while Peter looked like he’d seen a ghost – that ghost being me.  
“Well I would love to see your methods of trying to wake her up in the morning!” Four says.  
“It’s not with an air horn that’s for one!” I just sit there staring at a spot on the couch trying to regain my breath.  
“What’s going on?” I groan, my hand moving to my forehead to comfort the growing ache.  
“Maybe that’s something you would like to explain?” Peter says, placing a hand on my shoulder and drawing circles on my collar bone, it was comforting and a leaned towards it, resting my head against his arm.  
“I don’t understand.” I say.  
“Well did you get into a fight with a bull? Because that’s currently my only conclusion.” Four responds curtly. I look down and see my arms covered in bandages, which were now damp and red, my clothes were ripped in odd places; and I finally remember. I shrug Peter’s hand off my shoulder and attempt to stand up before being pulled back to the couch by Peter, his hands gripped to my waist, this time him sitting down with me.   
“You’re not going anywhere until you explain what happened.”  
“What happened when?” I pretend to act dumb, hoping that they will brush it off as me being too drunk.  
“Last night. I found you in the corridor, drunk and stoned, crying and shaking. I bought you back here to sleep.” Damn it.  
“Oh, right yeah…” I feel the tears stinging my eyes, “I um got into a fight with someone and… I lost.” I put simply, rubbing the sides of my arms. Peter’s grip tightened on my hips.  
“A fight?” Four stared blankly at me.  
“Well, Four its not unbelievable is it?” Eric smirks.  
“Yeah, I know, but why?”  
“I don’t know, I was drunk.”  
“The why doesn’t bother me, I want to know who.” Peter snarls.  
“I don’t know who they were.”  
“Well what do they look like? He questions.  
“I can’t remember anything about what happened, honestly.” I lie. I try to look him in the eye and smile, that’s how you make it believable, but I couldn’t, and I’m certain he noticed. I turn to look at the floor to hide my guilt for lying to him, I should be able to trust him, I should be able to tell him. Yet I can’t.   
“Okay.” One of his hands moves to my thigh, and he stroked it soothingly.  
“Can we go now, please?” I ask Peter, a tear pricking my eye. He looks me in the eye with sympathy, his mouth slightly agape.  
“Yeah, of course.” He says before taking my hand in his and standing up with me. I caught Four rolling his eyes at us, clearly still having an issue with my relationship. 

We walk through the halls in silence, holding hands. Neither of us had anything to say, thankfully. I escaped talking about it for now. I don’t think I will ever be ready to talk about it so I guess I just have to keep it quiet for a very long time. 

We enter the apartment and I immediately curl into a ball on the couch, pulling my knees to my chest. Peter stood staring at for a moment before wandering into his-our- bedroom, leaving me to dwell on yesterday’s events.

Why would my father come after me like that? I thought his intentions were always to get rid of me, and he had, I moved to Dauntless and he still followed me. It’s like everything I do can’t take me away from the horror I experienced in amity. As if my fate is to suffer worse than the factionless or be factionless.

“Here put this on.” Peter walks back in with a jumper which I guess is his. He crouches down in front of me and pulls on my legs to get me to sit up in front of him. I just stare at the floor while he stares at me, holding his jumper under my nose. I take it from his hands and slip it over my head and a wave of comfort washes over me. I feel safe. As if when Peter is around, nothing can hurt me which I know now is part true. I pull the end of the sleeves over my hands to keep them warm and go to pull my legs back to my chest but Peter pulls them back down with his hands. They gripped my thighs. It brings back too many bad memories.

I don’t like it.

So, I roughly shove his hands away and shuffle myself backwards on the couch until my legs finally touch my chest.

Peter stares at me in shock with his hands at the side of his head like a surrender. “Hey, calm down I’m not going to hurt you, I just wanted to talk.”  
“Oh...um yeah s-sorry.” I stammer trying to relax again but my hands won’t stop shaking. I could see Peter observe me before standing up and sitting next to me, this time giving me more space than usual.   
“You sure your alright, you’ve been acting really jumpy?” He asks, raising an eyebrow.  
“Yeah, im fine.” I give him a fake smile before turning away.  
“Okay.” An awkward silence looms over us both for a minute before Peter speaks up again, “so why did you end up in the halls last night?”   
“I told you, I got into- “  
He cuts me off, “no I mean the real reason Taura.”  
“That is the real reason.” I try to put on an act.  
“Cut the crap, you don’t seriously think you could get a lie through me.”  
“I- “  
“I’m candor born, it’s my super power.” He smirks.  
“It’s every Candors super power.” I remind him.  
“It’s every Amity’s superpower to smile, yet I’ve never seen a real one from you.”  
“Amity’s superpower is to act, smiling is just the performance.” I tell him, looking him in the eye.  
“I guess you didn’t take acting classes then?” That manages to draw a giggle out of me, lifting the apples of my cheeks.  
“I actually went to a theatre school.”  
“Really?”  
“Yeah, my mum enrolled me as a child, I stayed on until I could no longer go.” I smile weakly, remembering the times when she was still here. My mother was a beautiful woman, she had deep brown eyes and brown hair. She worked in the farmhouse caring for the animals, often she would let me go to work with her and we’d spend her break horse riding in the back fields. I loved her, and she loved me. Like a mother and daughter should. I assume my father had something to do with her death but I was never told by the authorities or my family. Her death is still a mystery to me, a mystery that I want closure on, so I can heal the wound left in my heart.  
“You see this is the type of stuff I did not know about you, because you haven’t told me!”  
“Well it’s not necessarily key information.” I snicker.  
“I don’t know I’m pretty intrigued.” He grins, leaning himself against the armrest.  
“It’s nothing really that special, I studied dance and drama but- “  
“You can dance?” He asks, raising an eyebrow.  
“Yes, don’t act so surprised!”   
“Show me.” He smirks, patting his lap lightly.   
“I apologise but I wasn’t trained in lap dance!” I giggle.  
“But the skills are transferable right?”  
“I suppose, but no, you’re not getting a lap dance off me.”  
“Fine, fine. What did you train in then?” He cocks a side smile.  
“Um ballet, jazz, theatre, street, country etc. It was kind of mixed.” Peter stares at me for a while with a grin on his face.  
“That’s hot.” He winks at me and it makes me blush. I just giggle and roll my eyes at him. “So, are you going to tell me what actually happened last night?” I should have seen that one coming. He seriously just tried to manipulate me.  
“Ha ha, that’s funny.” I see his face drop. “You cheer me up and then try and get me to talk. Nice try Peter.” I scoff, walking over to the fridge and grabbing a bottle of water.  
“I know you didn’t get into a fight, but something pretty bad must have happened and I want to know.”  
“You wouldn’t understand.” I warn him, leaning my back against the kitchen counter and opening the water.  
“You’re not giving me a chance to understand.” He stands up and walks towards me with a disgruntled look on face. I don’t understand why he’s so eager to know, well I do but I can’t relate to his persistent digging for the truth. My answer is just as good as any answer. Maybe it’s a candor thing.  
“Why should I give you a chance to understand, if no one else has ever or will understand.” Peter frowns and rests his hands on my hips, pulling me towards him. I don’t want to cause any more suspicion, so I just suck in the fear and place my hands against his arms.  
“No one else has to understand, just me.” He soothes, rubbing his hands over my hips. I know I can trust Peter with anything, I can tell him anything and he won’t judge me or jump to conclusions. For example, he knows I’m married yet is still willing to have a relationship with me and I can’t even tell him the truth. “Whoever has done this to you, won’t even look at you again. I promise. But only if you tell me what happened”  
A warm feeling fills me inside and I lean up to kiss him, placing my fingers along his jawline. He returns the kiss, his hands gripping my waist tighter and I feel safe again. I find security in Peter, even when the rest of my life is just a complete shamble I know he’s the one stability in it. That’s what makes me carry on.   
Peters lips part from mine and he give me a disgruntled look, “you realise that seducing your way out of this will only work a few times, right?”  
I laugh, dropping my hand “a few times?”  
“Well I’m a guy, it’s going to work at least once.”  
“Funny. But that’s not what I was doing.”   
“That’s disappointing…” he pulls my face back to his and places another kiss to my lips.   
All of a sudden, the door swings open, startling both me and Peter. Christina (I think her name was) entered the apartment with a panicked look on her face.  
“I really have got to get that lock fixed…” I hear Peter murmur and I side smile, remembering my first encounter with Sam.  
Christina rushes up to us and grips my arm and I raise an eyebrow at her.  
“What ya want, big mouth?” Peter mocks.  
“I’m not here for you.” She snarls. “Taura come on, it’s Four!”  
Four? Ay? It’s unlikely for Four to get in some type of situation, let alone one that in needed for.  
“Why what’s going on?” I question while Christina drags out of the door.  
“It’s hard to explain, just hurry.”

a/n: this chapter is awful im so sorry! i had a bit of a writers block so this is kind of a 'fill-in' chapter, i just wanted to get this finished seen as it had been so long.


	9. chapter 8:2

I follow Christina down a corridor, Peter behind me and we didn’t have to go far until we find what Christina was on about. Four looked like you could drop him in some wood and the entire city will catch a light. I’ve never seen him so angry before. 

But What frightened me even more was who he was angry with. Sam was pinned against the wall with a knife pressed to his neck. Yet he still kept a smug grin. I froze, I had no idea what to do. Four clearly knows something, but I don’t want it to come out, not like this. I feel my stomach begin to do backflips as Sam’s dark eyes find mine. He can sense my fear and he lives off it.

I do the only thing that seems logical;  
Act like nothing’s happened.

“Hey Four! Stop, get off him!” I dash between them, roughly shoving Four backwards into the wall. I hold my arms up parallel to my body, a palm facing both of them like a human barrier.  
“Why are you defending him, you should be the one who wants him dead out of anyone?!” Four yells at me, fury evident in his face.  
“What the hell are you on about?!” I know exactly what he’s on about. Four freezes, his mouth agape.  
“Yeah Four, what have you been blabbing on about?” Sam speaks up, pretending to be shell shocked. “Taura, if you hadn’t had jumped in when you did, I don’t think I would be alive right now. Thank you. So much.” If this man had any talent, it would be acting. He stays behind me, rubbing his neck exaggeratingly.  
“Why were you two having a scrap anyway?” Peter pipes up from the side of me.  
“That’s a good question Peter, I was just making my way down the corridors and Four just came out of nowhere and started attacking me. He was accusing me of hurting you.” Sam rattles on, pointing at me. It felt like my heart drop to my stomach. “I mean, he accused me of raping you!” I gulped maybe a little too loud.  
“What?” Peter moves closer to me, as if he was guarding me from Sam.  
“Oh, don’t act so surprised, it’s not as if it’s unheard of from him!” Four barks at Peter while still keeping his eyes locked on Sam. He’s done this before?  
“Four, I really don’t have a clue what you’re on about.” Sam half laughs almost menacingly. “I haven’t even touched her, right Taura?” He gives me a pointed look, raising his eyebrow as if to warn me of the consequences if I don’t agree with him. I pause for a while, debating on what path to take. If I tell the truth, I could get rid of Sam, but I know he will have something lined up for me and things would get weird between me and Peter. Or I could go along with it, play Sam’s little game, and everything stays the same.   
“He’s right. Four I think you’re going crazy, the only time he’s touched me is to shake my hand, and that was 2 days ago.” I choose the latter. Fours jaw drops, and his eyebrows contort together.  
“But… But the CCTV… it was him!” He stammers, pointing the knife in Sam’s direction.  
“Well clearly you got the wrong guy.”  
“Your lying.” Four tells me.  
“I’m ex-candor and I can tell you she’s not lying.” Peter snaps from behind me, placing a hand tightly on my shoulder. I gave him a weak smile which he returned but I had to turn away. Four sighs loudly.  
“Just drop the knife and call it a day.” I tell him firmly. The knife drops to the floor with a crash and Four throws his hands to the side in defeat.  
“Hey, no hard feelings. It was just a misunderstanding, right?” Sam said with a smug look on his face. Four responds with a scoff before storming off. Sam began to chuckle lightly, eyeing me up and down. My heart pounds inside my chest. Even though Peter and Christina were there, I still felt vulnerable.   
“Well, I will see you all around. Thanks again, Taura.” I give him a light nod, not to act suspicious in front of Peter, I can tell he already suspects something is up so I need to do my best to rid him of those suspicions.  
Sam stalks off down the corridor, humming a tune and grinning profoundly.  
“I didn’t realise you were so bossy, Taura.” Christina days from behind me and Peter. To be honest in all the commotion I forgot she was here.  
“There’s many things you don’t know about me, hun.” I flash her a smile and put my arm around Peters waist to show her I never listened to her or Tris in the first place.  
“Do you want to come grab a few drinks with me?” She smiles, moving in front of me. I’m not exactly sure why she’s being so nice to me, I did beat up her best friend after all.   
“I don’t really feel like drinking right now.” I’m not even sure if I want to look at alcohol again.  
“Okay, you can have a bottle of water and I can have a bottle of tequila, does that sound good?” She smirks, and it pulls a small chuckle out of me.  
“I don’t know…” I stammer, glancing back at Peter. I was pretty sure he would have liked me to stay with him after all this.  
“No, you go have fun Apples, I won’t get too lonely I promise!” He winks at me and presses his hand against my back.  
This took me back a little, “oh are you sure?”  
“Yeah, course.” He grins, and I give him a light smile, still rather confused.  
“Okay then.” I sigh before being dragged away by Christina. Peter didn’t even hang around, I watched him march off in the opposite direction at speed. I hope he’s not up to anything.

 

“Okay, I have to ask because I’m really curious, what did you mean when you said you don’t fit in with amity stereotypes?” Me and Christina have been hanging out for the past 2 hours, and I have to say I’m rather enjoying it. It’s nice to take a break from the craziness of my life and actually have a little fun. The pit is fairly quiet as it is only around midday, so we pretty much have it to ourselves (and all the drinks).  
Today I’ve been smart and avoided the alcohol. I don’t want a repeat of anything that’s happened over this week. This decision was made easier by Christina going easier on tequila, I guess I’m a victim of passive drinking.  
“Well, I never got on there. Ya know, I was always breaking the rules, doing risky stuff. I was kicked out of mainstream school because I kicked off at a teacher, otherwise a lot of people would probably recognise me.” I had never been very good with authority when I was younger, and I’m still not now, so I wasn’t particularly the ideal student.  
“Wait, no I think I remember you.” Christina chirps with a grin.  
“Really?”  
“Yeah, you sat in front of me in math. You stole Mr. Ireland’s phone because he told you off for having your skirt to high.”   
“Oh yeah, I forgot about that. I actually found some disturbing texts between him and Miss Gadsby which I screenshotted and sent to his wife. I heard they divorced like a month later.” I smiled, rethinking my short but entertaining school days.  
“Wow I’ll have to learn not to get on your bad side. So, what happened after you got expelled?”  
“Well, seen as I had a very bad reputation in Amity already they put me into a reformative school on the compound.”  
“I didn’t know they existed. What was it like?” She quizzes.  
“Well, it was like they took all the education out of school and replaced it with a book about a man who walked on water.”  
Christina began laughing, “wait what?”  
“Yeah, it’s part of our religion, his names Jesus and a virgin gave birth to him in a barn. That’s all you need to know.” I explain. Amity is actually a very religious faction, it’s what they base the foundations on. As a child your conditioned into the religion through Sunday school and church services so when your older they don’t have problems with rebellions. Of course, I was the exception to the rule. I never for one minute believe in any of the religious crap, after all the things I’ve witnessed and experienced, it’s hard to trust that God exists.  
“I don’t think we had anything like that in Candor.”   
“I kind of wish I was candor-born.” It’s true, if I wasn’t amity I would have been Candor. It always seemed a lot more relaxed than amity. No religion. Rules but better rules.  
“Really?” She raises a dark brow at me.  
“Yeah, you had ice cream, we had bread.” I pout jokingly.  
“I suppose that was a perk.” She laughs.  
“But all jokes aside, there would be no secrets or lies, I would have known Peter, we could have been friends, I probably would have done better in school.”  
“So, if you hated Amity so much, why did you choose to stay?” This isn’t really something I’ve spoken about before, but I don’t have much to lose.  
“Well, I actually planned on moving to dauntless with Raul, it wasn’t until last minute I changed my mind. A couple weeks before, my younger sister became rather ill. Things were already tense in my family for numerous reasons and this kind of added to it. I don’t really know why I stayed, but I know if I left at that time I would have spent my whole time here feeling like a coward.”   
“Your sisters okay, now right?”  
“She passed away about a week ago. It was leukemia, so everyone knew it was going to happen.” There was a silence that fell over us. Me and my sister had always been close, after Mum died I basically raised her like my own. I had no choice; my father was barely suitable and wasn’t around. I took her to all her hospital appointments and cared for her at home, with the help of Raul. She was 6 years younger than me, so was 12 when she passed. I could see her going to Erudite when it came to choosing day. “I actually snook out of dauntless to go see her when she died so it’s not like I didn’t get to say goodbye…”  
“You’re okay, though right?”  
“Yeah I’m fine. It’s just been a long week ya know? But I have other things to worry about, so I’ve moved on as fast as I could.” I shrug.  
“That’s very brave of you, Taura.” She smiles warmly, placing a hand on my shoulder. I’ve never had the chance to talk to anyone about that, not even Raul knows that my sister passed, and I have to say it feels good to get it off my chest. 

Peter’s POV  
I’m usually don’t feel any remorse for doing things behind people’s backs, in fact it’s kind of what I’m known for. But this time it feels very wrong. I’m about to betray Taura, again. And I’m pretty sure it’s going to get me in a shit ton of trouble if she finds out I’m a part of any of this. However, I’m doing this because I’m keeping her safe and protected and there’s no harm in that. Right?

I walk through the basement to the CCTV room. There aren’t a lot of people who are allowed in here, and it’s only open at certain hours. Hence why it’s in the basement. There’s CCTV everywhere, every room, every alley even in apartments. Of course, nobody knows about the apartments, it would cause an uproar and only those investigating crimes are allowed to access that footage. I suppose you could say I was investigating a crime, right?

I switch on one of the big fancy computers which lit up like a Christmas tree. I was the only one in here and I had to keep it that way, so I made sure the computer was the only light on in the room. 

I tap around on the screen for a while to find the correct footage;  
22.08 - 23.08  
22:00- 02:00  
North Wing  
Level 4  
Corridor 2

Dauntless must of payed Erudite a tonne for this security system. The CCTV lets you view any footage from as much as 10 years ago from any crack in the compound – and beyond – just at the tap of a button I can find out anyone’s identity which is how I worked out Taura was lying. I don’t blame her, Sam did put her right on the spot and I know for a fact he wouldn’t have let Taura get away with spilling the tea. 

I scroll through at least an hour of footage until I finally find something interesting, Sam and Taura both appear onto the screen. Sam had Taura, who was clearly drunk as a skunk, pressed against his chest as he forces her down the corridor. His hands were way too low on her waist for my liking and I could feel a burning inside my stomach (and not the good kind). 

I decided to turn the sound on, so I could hear what was being said between them and zoom in slightly.   
“Maybe you can put on that show you promised me?”  
“Show? I have to warn you I’m not very good at dancing.”  
“No, but I’ve heard your good at other things.” I have to clench every muscle in my body when I see his lips move along her neck. Only I’m allowed to do that. I saw Taura try to move out of his grip but clearly her drunken state was making it difficult. They’ve pretty much reached Sam’s door by this point and I could feel my heart rate rise significantly.  
“Actually, I want to find Peter. Take me to Peter.” My eyes began to sting with tears, they were hot with anger.  
“Peter’s still stuck at the office, he will probably be a while. But don’t worry, I will take very good care of you.” No, I wasn’t, I was sat in my apartment continuously ringing her phone. 

Sam forcefully pushes Taura through his door. For the first time in my life, I actually stop myself from making a mistake. I daren’t change the camera and watch what happens next.   
Why did she not come to me?  
How could she not come to me? 

Muffled screaming came through the speakers of the computer and the tears started to fall from my eyes. I’m not cry because I’m sad or upset. Well, I am upset but that’s not why I’m crying. I’m angry. I’m so fucking angry. At Sam and myself.

I knew this could have happened, especially after our conversation I had with him where he taunted me about Taura. I let him talk to her.   
Why? Why didn’t I do anything?   
How could I have let this happen?! I should of fucking done something!   
“FUCK!” I scream, smashing my fists into the desk. I could still here Taura’s screaming in the background of mine. I’m seeing red.  
Old Peter is back.  
And Sam isn’t going to like it.


	10. chapter 9:2

I sit at the kitchen island rebandaging my wounds, the old bandages were in a pile next to me, damp with blood.   
I was struggling quite a bit to wrap the bandages around my arms, and the wounds on the back of my shoulders were even worse. And I had no idea how I was going to do those on my hips and thighs.  
Why do I always end up in these situations?  
I continue to wrap the white fabric around my forearms, dwelling on yesterday’s events and todays. I’m glad I went with Christina, it distracted me for a good couple hour which has helped me process everything a little more. I still don’t understand why she even bothered to talk to me, I certainly wasn’t going to talk to her, but I can see us becoming good friends in future. I hope we can be friends, it would be nice to hang around with a girl instead of just the guys.   
“Here, let me do that.” I look up to see Peter with his hand out in front of me. I was so lost in my thoughts I didn’t even hear him enter. He didn’t look particularly happy; his lips were turned downwards at the corner and his brows scrunched together in a knot. He sits on the stool next to me and takes my arm in his hand. He began wrapping more bandage around my arm, doing a lot better job then I was doing. He wasn’t saying anything, which is weird because he always has something to say. I continue to watch him, but he never looked up at me just stared at a bruise on the inside of my thigh. Crap.  
“There’s some bruises in some strange places.” He mentions quietly and finally looks up at me as he ties a knot at the end of the bandage. He leans back against the island and raises a brow at me.   
“What?” I half laugh a fake laugh.  
“You don’t need to play that act with me Taura.” I just stare at him blankly. “I know exactly what happened last night.”  
“Oh my god.” I mutter, taking my arm out of his grip and turning away from him so he didn’t see the saddened look on my face.  
“I realized you were lying to Four and I went and found the CCTV footage myself.” He tells me calmly.  
“And what did you do with that footage?” I ask him, my voice trembling.  
“Nothing. I promise.” He states, and I turn to face him again.  
“Okay.” I say before pushing myself off the seat and begin walking away. I can’t believe he would do something like that.  
“Are you mad at me?” He asks, moving to follow me.  
“Well I’m not happy about it. I wasn’t going to tell anyone what happened. At least not yet.”   
“I know, but I couldn’t stand the thought of someone hurting you like that and I care about you too much to let it just slide.”  
“I know, that’s what I was scared of.” I stop in the middle of the room and turn to face him, fiddling with the ends of his jumper which I was still wearing.  
“What do you mean?” He cringes.  
“Well like making irrational decisions that could make it worse or you are doing something that gets you hurt or in trouble. I don’t know even just making me talk about it.” That was my biggest fear about telling anyone. I know Peter, and I know what he can do which frightens me.  
“So, someone just randomly walks into your life and rapes you and me, as your boyfriend, isn’t allowed to do anything about it?!” He stresses.  
“Peter, no one just walks into my life and does that.” I could feel the salt from my tears sting the bruises on my cheeks.  
“What so he did something before this?!” His voice began getting louder and I could feel pockets of air building up in my throat. I just nodded lightly. “Well what the fuck did he do?!” He shouts at me. I felt myself begin to tremble. I really didn’t want to be talking about this, at least not under these circumstances. I just need to get out of here.  
“The- the cut on my lip… that was him.” I can see an ember burning in Peter’s right eye and, I won’t lie, it scares me. “and my seizure, I’m almost certain he slipped me a pill. And then the day before that, he started touching me.”   
“Are you kidding?! Why the hell would you wait until now to tell me?!”   
“I did tell you, I just didn’t know who he was then.”   
“Okay so when you did, why didn’t you come to me?” His voice seems to soften.  
“Because he’s your friend and-and you know Sam better than I do so I thought you might not believe me.” I was met with silence for a while.  
“Apples, just because he was my friend doesn’t mean I would defend him over you.” He comes to me and places his hands on my hips. I wince as his fingers dig into the scratches. His face had softened along with his voice and it made me feel safe once again. “But- “  
“There is no but. You’re the most important thing to me. Fuck any one else. Unless it’s a dog, dogs always come first.” What he said fills me with a warm feeling and gives me butterflies in my stomach. “I’m sorry that I got loud, I just got offended when I thought you didn’t trust me.”  
“Peter, anytime I put my trust in someone back in amity they’d use it against me later down the line. So, it’s well drilled in my brain to be wary of who I get too comfortable around. Yeah okay, I have some trust issues, but you have to understand that it’s not a simple fix for me and it’s going to take me a shit ton of time to be able to tell you something’s.”  
“Okay. I understand and I’m sorry. Just remember that you can tell me anything. I’m always here for you.” He smiles warmly, moving his hands to cup my face. I could feel his thumb erasing a tear from my cheek and I leaned towards it, resting my head against his hand.   
Peter closed the distance between the both of us, pulling my lips to his. It was slow and soft. Soothing and comforting in ways I can’t put into words. His hands move from my face as he wraps his muscular arms around my waist, forcing me against his chest allowing me me to entangle my fingers in his thick hair.   
I pull away from him but keep my arms around his neck and his stayed around my waist. He growls lowly at me in his usual husky voice before beginning to sway me side to side gently, his right hand rubbing the small of my back and further down. I didn’t care this time, it made me feel safe and secure and happy and nervous and a whole ton of other feelings which I liked.  
“Can I ask you for a favour?” He smirks, his fingers finding the ends of my hair. I raise my right brow flirtingly and cock him a side smile.  
“Depends whether I like it or not.”   
“Can I please punch Sam in the face…” he exaggerates and I roll my eyes sarcastically at him. “Like really really hard… at the edge of the roof so he just ya know… falls right off.” He cringes, probably assuming my response would not be good.  
“I’m flattered but maybe we should see what he does next before making any rushed decisions.” I say running my hands over his chest.  
“But it would really help to let my anger out.” He fake pouts, forcing his bottom lip out.   
“Well then you should probably find another way to let your anger out while I take a shower.” I smile, pat him on the shoulder and then begin walking away.  
“Fine, I’ll go put Raul in a headlock…” he sighs jokingly (I think). I give him a grin and an eyeroll before closing the bathroom door behind me.

 

I walk out of the bathroom wearing just a sports bra and short, raking my hands through my wet hair with a towel. Peter was slumped on the sofa scrolling through his phone when he looked up at me, his mouth falling open slightly but quickly turns into a wide grin. I could feel his eyes running up and down my body like a scanner. I watch him bite his lower lip as he finds my eyes. A devilish glint was in the back of his eye.  
“Why you looking at me like that?” I laugh.  
“Is that all your wearing tonight?” He asks, the grin not fading.  
“Yes, it’s boiling in here. Why, is there a problem with it?”   
“Oh no. No, there is absolutely no problem here.” He smiles, patting the spot next to him which I take, sitting on it with my legs crossed. “You know, I almost forgot you had that tattoo.” He says, running his hand over my shoulder which was home to my apple tattoo.  
“Oh yeah, I guess I did too, is it looking alright?” I ask, knowing that it’s been a while since I checked on it.  
“It’s perfect. Like you.” He smiles as I look over my shoulder. That makes me blush.  
“Would you stop being so flirty today.” I laugh, placing smacking him on the thigh.  
“Sorry, I’m just feeling affectionate.” He giggles playfully, kissing the crevice of my neck softly and I had to gulp back a moan. He wraps his arms around the front of my waist pulling me back against him as he nuzzles his face into my shoulder.  
“Peter stop, your hands are cold!” I exclaim as he runs his hands over the skin of my stomach.   
“You said it was boiling!” He laughs into my shoulder, sending chills down my spine.  
“Yeah but your hands are sub zero!” I giggle, and he begins tickling me, making me squeal.  
“Peter!!! That’s cold, stop!” I can feel his chuckle vibrating against my neck making me squeal even more and him laugh even more. It was kind of a viscous cycle, which ended up with me falling off the couch onto the floor.  
“Ouch.” I giggle breathlessly. Peter looks at me with a half happy half worried expression written on his face.  
“Are you okay?” He grins.  
“Yeah, im great.” I sigh, feeling rather bubblier than usual. I sit myself back on the couch, this time pulling myself against Peters chest and he quickly wrapped his arms around my body.  
“I’m cold.” I whisper, and I hear him groan.  
“Sit up a minute.” He rolls his eyes, swiftly pulling his shirt over his head. The knot in my stomach re-appears and I can feel myself go into fight or flight mode.   
“What-what are you doing?” I stutter.  
“You said you were cold.” He says holding his shirt under my nose with a confused expression.  
“Oh yeah course.” I say, and he slips it over my head for me, leaving me to put my arms through the sleeves. I wasn’t even done before Peter sweeps me onto his lap, his hands cupping my ass in his palms with the charming grin still on his face. I run my hands from his neck down his chest slowly, until I could wrap my arms around his waist and press my body against his, leaning my head against his shoulder. It was moments like this with Peter that I enjoyed the most, they relaxed me yet filled me with excitement. I hear him moan lightly as my lips ‘accidentally’ brush against his neck.  
“I can’t decide which I like more, you with my shirt on or without it?” He smirks against my ear.  
“Of course, you can’t.” I smile against him. And I could feel my eyes fluttering to a close as Peter rubs his hands up and down my thighs. 

Peter’s POV

I rub my eyes as I wake from my sleep, it was apparently now morning and I don’t even remember falling asleep.

Turns out we both ended up sleeping on the couch, Taura laid between my legs, her arms around my waist and her head against my chest. Her long black hair creating a sort of blanket over the top of us – a very soft blanket – not that it was needed, I put a blanket over Taura earlier. I couldn’t help but stare at her, running my hands through her hair, twizzling the ends at the bottom.  
She’s perfect. The only thing I want in my life right now. She makes me think about things differently, in ways I haven’t thought about before. She makes me a completely different person, maybe even a better person.  
This is true bliss. I love her so much.  
And today I’m going to fuck it all up! Yet again. I was such an idiot. And as soon as Taura finds out what I did, I’m almost certain that’s going to be the end of us.  
2 days. Way to go Peter.  
I regret everything I did yesterday. I lied to her. I did do something with the footage. Something really awful.  
But I did it because I love her, so even if I do muck it up, I can rest assure I did the right thing, right?  
Taura begins to stir on top of me, her cute little head moving around on my chest. I decide it’s probably best to wake her up, I promised everyone we’ll actually be at breakfast today. I rub the small of her back through my/her shirt, digging my fingers in slightly. I hear her groan lightly to me interrupting her sleep.  
“Taura, wake up. Babe…” I whisper to her. I watch her eyes flutter slightly before she rolls her head so it’s faces down on my chest.  
“5 more minutes.” She whines, her lips moving against me as if it was an attempt to torture me.  
“No, we need to get up, we have to go for breakfast.” I say patting her back lightly.  
“Can’t we just stay in today?” She props her head up and gives me big puppy eyes. And I swear I could melt like a marshmallow if I stare into them for too long. But I have to stay stubborn.  
“As appetizing as that sounds, you need to eat just as much as I do, and I know that Raul is dying to see you.” I pout.   
“Ugh fine.” She sighs, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. Her back was facing me, and I sit up myself, gripping her shoulders in my palms and massaging them for her.  
“Does that help wake you up, gorgeous?” I whisper flirtingly before trailing wet kisses down her neck, continuing to press my hands into her shouders.  
“Mm Yeah.” She moans, leaning into me.  
“Good. Now I’m hungry, let’s go.” I perk up, flashing her a grin before standing myself up. She had a disappointed look over her face.  
“Your mean to me.” She pulls a fake pout.  
“Well after breakfast you can have me all to yourself, I promise this time.” I wink at her. Of course, I can only keep that promise if we make it past breakfast.  
“Okay, just let me get changed.”  
“Um, no I think you should wear that.” I smirk, and she gives me a baffled look.  
“Because I’m very keen on showing everyone that your mine, and what better way to be possessive then make you wear my shirt in public?”  
“Fine okay, but let me tie my hair back, it’s looks like a complete mess.” Seriously girls need to stop being picky. Her hair looks fine.  
“No, it doesn’t. It looks hot.” I wink again. She turns to look in the mirror, cocking her head from side to side.  
“Yeah your right. Let’s go!” She grins, gripping my hand and pulling me out the door.

We enter the canteen and my heart pounds in my chest as I think of what’s to come. I snake an arm around Taura’s waist, pulling her against me, giving her a kiss to the temple like I always do. I could see out the corner of my eye a small group of lads staring at her. I wink at them and mouth ‘mine’ while pointing at myself with a grin. They roll their eyes at me and I have to stop myself from laughing.  
Raul was already sat at our designated table, the centre of the The Mess Hall. He sits on one side of the wooden table on his own with three others sat on the opposite side. Cody, Brad and crap… Sam.   
“Peter…” Taura whispers, stopping me in my tracks. She had a panicked look on her face, clearly noticing those sat at the table.  
“I know, just stay calm, as soon as he sees your scared that’s when he strikes. Don’t worry, I’ll fix it.” I sooth, gripping her waist tighter.  
I let her sit next to Raul, with me on the opposite side. I watch Sam shuffle along the bench to be exactly opposite Taura and I feel the anger bubble in me. It’s taking me all the strength I can muster to not launch my face at that smug grin of his.  
“Where were you yesterday?” Raul asks Taura, placing a hand on her shoulder. She turns to face him and gives a weak smile. Clearly Sam is getting to her.  
“Oh um-“   
Sam cuts her off, “yeah, Raul I forgot to tell you! The reason why you didn’t see Taura around yesterday was that she was busy saving my life.” I place my hand on Taura’s leg, rubbing my thumb over her smooth yet damaged skin. She had fear written over her features and I can tell Sam is using it blatantly against her, dragging Raul into this little game of his, Taura’s biggest weakness. Just wait until I stop playing by the rules.   
“What?” Raul grimaces a smile, his eyes switching between Sam and Taura repetitively.  
“Yeah, Four was accusing me of the most bizarre things even threatened to kill me.” He puts on his act.  
“Apparently even stuck a knife to his throat.” Brad pipes up, swirling his fork in the air.  
“And that’s where my knight in black armour stepped in. A very brave fleet if I do say so myself.” He grins, taking a sip of his coffee, keeping his eyes locked on Taura.  
“Well she was always a bit of a hero in Amity.” Raul grins, clearly not catching the same loopholes I did the first time around.  
“You really do fit into Dauntless, Daniels.” He smirks before standing up from the table. “Well boys, and girl, I have some business to take care of. I’ll see you all around.” He gives me and Taura one last nod before stalking out the canteen. I wonder what business that may be.  
“Sounds like you’re quite the rockstar around here, Tee.” Brad pops up again. I have a feeling he’s flirting with Taura, no one calls her Tee apart from Raul.   
“Oh, I don’t know whether it’s for all the right reasons.” She sighs, placing her hand on top of mine.  
“Since when were there ‘right reasons’ in dauntless?” Cody snickers.   
“True…” She cocks her head to the side and raises her brows briefly.   
“Oh Eric- what a surprise?” Raul pipes up and the other four heads turn to see Eric stood at the end of the table with his usual emotionless expression. Here we go.  
“Thanks for the Amity greeting, Christopher. But I’m not here for the small talk.”  
“Okay, what brings you here then?” Raul questions.  
“Actually, I’m here to speak to Taura.”   
“Okay…” Taura pulls a baffled look and I can feel my stomach do several backflips.  
“In private.” He says with a hint of softness in his voice.  
“Oh, um okay.” Taura mutters and I notice her gulp slightly, glancing at me before getting up, her hand leaving mine.  
I did something with that footage.  
I gave it to Eric.


	11. chapter 9:2

“what was that all about?” Raul squints. I feel a thudding in my chest and a quenching in my stomach and I wish I could do anything to take it all back.  
I look to Cody and Brad who were clearly wondering the same thing, exchanging glances with each other. I can’t tell Raul with them in hearing distance, Taura doesn’t know them all that well and wouldn’t take very well to the idea of me telling them.  
I just grab Raul by this sleeve and drag him through the hall, past tables and barging past black jackets until I find a small and dark alley way in the corner, shoving Raul into it.  
“Okay… what was that for?” He quizzes.  
“The reason Eric needed to speak to her was because something happened between her and Sam.” I whisper, avoiding all eye contact with him.  
“What do you mean ‘something’?” He quirks a blonde brow, his hands going to his pocket. “Wait is this about what happened the other night, because Four mentioned something yesterday-“  
“Sam assaulted Taura.” I spit out involuntary and I can see that Raul Christopher ember burning in his right eye. The type he gets when someone mentions Taura’s name.  
“Sorry?” His voice becomes harsh.  
“Taura was high and drunk and Sam took advantage.”  
“No… no, no. He’s not getting away with that.” Raul sneers trying to barge past me, but I block him with an arm. The last thing I need is for a fight to kick off in the canteen.  
“Raul that’s not a good idea.”  
“Yes, and you’re the king of good ideas!”   
“Taura had a reason not to tell anyone what happened, and I may have breached that privacy.”  
“Oh my god what did you do.” He gives a concerned glare.  
“I-I gave the footage from the CCTV to Eric.” Raul’s eyes harden like steel. I don’t think I’ve seen him so angry before.  
“Why would you do that?”  
“Because Sam needs to be punished for what he did.”   
“Peter, do you not have any common sense at all?! Even if leadership wanted to convict him, they can’t without Taura admitting to it and wanting to press charges. And do you really think shoving her in a conference room with 2 maybe 3 very powerful men and practically forcing it out of her is going to make her talk?!” He’s right. Taura should do this on her own time.  
“Yeah I get that now.”  
“You better hope and pray Taura’s in a forgiving mood today or you’re going to be on the end of a stake!” He shouts, his voice tense and tight like a knot, before barging past me. Fuck.   
“Wait, Raul.” I say gripping his arm. There has to be some way of making this easier.  
“What?!”  
“There must be something I can do.”  
“Without making it worse? Yeah I don’t think so.”  
“But-“  
“I know Taura best, I think you should leave this to me.” He snaps his arm from my grip and weaves himself back through the corridors.  
What the hell have I done?

Taura’s POV

Eric guides me through the corridors without saying a word, and for once I actually want him to talk. We had climbed a lot of stairs, to probably the highest point of the complex and the slightly wider paths are lined with what looked like meeting rooms. A long with that, there’s a lot of storage cupboards with locked doors. Double locked doors.  
The number of locked doors I’ve found in the complex makes me question the dauntless pride. If they’re so brave, why are they so scared to reveal these secrets?   
I’ll find out eventually.

Eric presses down on a handle to a black door, which had ‘CID’ written across the door in bold writing. Why would I be brought to CID unless they know what I did?  
“Eric, why are we here? I haven’t done anything wrong… have I?” I stammer on my words, trying to phrase it carefully so I come off as innocent as possible. In amity that’s always good acting practice.  
“Nothing, you don’t have anything to worry about. Not yet anyway.” He says, with a sort of soft but small smile. That’s strange.  
He pushes open the door and signals me to enter with a hand. The room was large-ish and a lot better lit than most parts of the complex. It was mainly empty, apart from a table that sat unnaturally in the middle of the room, surrounded by 3 leather chairs.   
I was expecting this to just be between me and Eric but stood by the table was an older man. He had a dark complexion and a thin layer of stubble that lined his jawline. He wore a smile which I suppose was meant to look kind but came off a little stern and cold, almost like he was mocking me.  
I hear Eric shut the door behind us and I was about to ask a question before Eric piped up.  
“Taura, this is Max, head of leadership at Dauntless.” I give a light nod in his direction. Whatever this is about, it must be serious for him to be involved. I feel butterflies build in my stomach.  
“Taura Daniels, I’ve heard much about you. You seem to have made quite the impression here.” Why is he being so nice?  
“Uh I guess.” I watch Eric take a seat next to where Max was stood, he looked tense with his arms propped on the arm rests.  
“Please, sit” Max notions towards the lone chair opposite the both of them. So, I do. ” Can I get you anything? A coffee, a beer-“  
“She’s strictly off alcohol.” Eric interrupts and I scoff slightly. Max gives him a glare and then looks at me pointedly.  
“Um I’m good, thanks.” I give a weak smile and Max finally sits opposite me.  
“Our faction is very keen on creating better relationships with Amity, one of the reasons we agreed to…um…” he pauses for a second, clearly picking his words carefully. “Harbor you.” Lovely choice. “I believe that Amity and Dauntless could succeed in a mutual agreement.”  
“I’m not sure they will particularly like that. I mean you basically go against everything they teach.” I respond probably too curtly  
“I suppose, but we are receiving an increasing number of Amity transfers per year, take you for example. You may have joined on the band wagon a bit late but listening to Eric, your one of the best initiates we’ve had, which is surprising considering your origin.” Max seems to like flattery, but I don’t buy that this all just for a pep talk.  
“Well, to be fair, she’s not the average Amity.” Eric states.  
“He’s right. I never really got along there.” I agree with Eric for some reason.  
“Interesting. Was there any reason for that?” I sense Max is using this small talk technique to squeeze information out of me.  
“It was just… boring.” There were many reasons why I didn’t get along.  
“I can see that.” Max chuckled lightly.  
“Now, I hear that some people have been giving you a bit of trouble since your arrival.” Are they on about Tris?  
“Is this what this is about?” I ask.  
“Yes. We want to pick up on what happened the other night.” I feel my heart freeze. Sam. How on earth did they both find out about this?  
“Um what happened?” I ask innocently.  
“The night I found you in the corridor, Taura.” Oh dear.  
“Yes, involving… Sam Crake was it?” They both look at me and I must look a sight. I sit there at a loss for words.  
“Can I ask, how did you both find out about this?”  
“Peter came to me with the CCTV footage, saying you wanted to press charges.” Eric says. Peter. Of course. Clearly, I need to learn to not put my trust in people that quickly. I feel a flame of anger build inside of me. I can’t believe he would betray me like this. “although I’m guessing that’s not quite the case.” There was a hint of concern in his eyes.  
“Bingo.” I respond.  
“Taura, in Dauntless we have no tolerance for the sexual harassment of any of our members. Sam needs to be dealt with for… raping you.” Max informs me. I hate that word. “We have sufficient evidence, but we can’t press forward on this case without you admitting to it.” I just nod slowly. This can’t be happening right now. Maybe at another time but not now. Eric and Max exchanged glances.  
“You need to tell us every detail of what happened that night, no matter how horrific.” Eric tells me, gulping slightly.  
“What?”   
“The Erudite ask for all… intimate… details to be listed.” Max continues.  
“Well… he-he raped me… how more explicit can I be?”   
“I understand this isn’t easy, but this is incredibly important. Sam needs to be punished.” Eric says. I feel tears brimming in my eyes and bubbles forming in my throat.  
“No.”  
“Sorry?” Eric winces.  
“I can’t do this.” I say quietly before leaving my chair.  
“Taura, where are you going?” I hear Eric shout before I leave the room, shutting the door behind me. There’s no way I could of sat there and explain in detail what happened between me and Sam. At least not to Eric. Especially when I haven’t come to terms with it myself.   
I feel Anger, fear, stress and I don’t like it. I feel like just curling into a ball and hiding in a corner. I’m furious with Peter. What was going through my head when I decided to trust him with this?!   
“Tee?” I look up to see Raul in front of me. I’m not even sure I want to talk to him right now. “Peter told me what happened and what he did.”  
“Oh, great so you were in on this too!”   
“No- no I wasn’t. I don’t think it was okay what he did.”  
“I should have never trusted him. Everyone warned me.” I sigh, the tears rolling down my face.  
“You see the best in people.”  
“Yeah well maybe there is no best in Peter.” I say before beginning to walk down the corridor.   
“Where are you going?” Raul jogs after me.   
“To go have a word with someone.” I say before marching back towards the cafeteria.

“Where is he?” I shout whisper to Raul who gives me a confused look. My skin burned from the salt in my tears.   
“Tee, I think you should calm down first. You don’t want to cause a scene.” Raul says, pacing after me.  
“Oh, I’ll make a fucking scene!” I grimace. I catch sight of Peters dark hair in the middle of the canteen and I immediately make a b-line towards him.  
“Taura…” Raul groans behind me. My footsteps were wide and heavy, creating a stomping sound on the floor. Anyone around me would of known what mood I was in.  
One of the men Peter was stood with tapped him on the shoulder upon seeing me approach. He swung round, with a sort of shocked expression on his face.  
“Taura um-“I cut him off by sending my hand across his face. A slap always hurts a man more than a punch. I needed that.  
I heard many gasps and laughs from around us while Peter wipes his face in shock. Obviously, he wasn’t going to hit me back, that wouldn’t look good on his part, especially seen as this was all for his reputation.  
“Why would you do that?!”   
“Taura I didn’t-“ He tries to form some petty excuse before I cut him off harshly  
“No there’s no excuse! You lied to me and you know you lied to me. I asked you what you did with that footage and you said nothing.” I hit him the chest, making him stumble backwards.  
“I was just trying to help.” He says.   
“Yeah, well you didn’t.” I half laugh, before raul grabbed my arm. “I thought you were different from the others Peter.” Raul drags me away by my arm from the canteen, clearly wanting to disperse the situation.

With my shirt –peters shirt – pulled over my knees, I curl up on his couch. Rauls apartment was much more organised than Peter’s, Eric’s and especially Four’s. Everything had a purpose and was placed where they belong, nothing misplaced. Just like Raul, organised and collected.  
I miss how things used to be.  
“Are you cold?” He asks but doesn’t wait for a response before wrapping a thick wool blanket around me from behind.  
“I should never have come here.” I sigh, dipping my head into my lap.  
“Don’t say that. You belong here, and you know that.” He states firmly, sitting next to me.  
“Oh, come on, you and I both know that where you belong isn’t necessarily where you end up.”   
“Yeah I guess.” He droops, a smile fading from his face.  
“Why is everything going so wrong?”  
“I don’t know. But I will make it right, I promise.” He runs a hand over my hair. His attentiveness towards me lately is confusing. I guess he’s just trying to be a good friend.  
“Everyone was trying to warn me about Peter. I was so stupid.”  
“No, you weren’t. You trusted your instinct even when people tried to tell you wrong. None of this was your fault.” He soothes continuing to run his hand over my knotted hair.  
“I should have listened. None of this would have happened.”  
“Maybe. But it’s not been that bad has it?”   
“Well, better than Amity but as far as first weeks go… pretty bad.” I could feel Raul looking at me with pity.  
“I’m sure I can make it better.”  
“Of course, you can.” I smile weakly, lifting my head slightly to face him. His large hands cup my face and quickly wipe the tears from my cheeks. It gave me chills, but I’m not sure if they were good chills.  
“I hate seeing you cry. It ruins your pretty face.” He chuckles slightly, and I just give him a weak smile. “You know I love you right?”  
I pull back from him slightly.  
“You mean as a friend, don’t you?” Me and Raul have had history in Amity, but to me that was just more of a ‘fling’ which ended a while ago. I hope he doesn’t think of it as something more.  
“…Um- well –“   
“Raul please tell me you’re not being serious.” I look at him pointedly. I love Raul, as a close friend and I always will. But this doesn’t feel right.  
“In those 2 years, there wasn’t a day I didn’t think about you.” He says, and I immediately panic.  
“Oh my god – Raul no.”  
“And-and I know it must have been the same for you. What we had was something special-“  
“No- no it wasn’t. I’m sorry if I misled you but it was just a distraction, I used for whatever horrors that were going on in my life.” I tell him truthfully, even if it may hurt, and I get up from my seat on the sofa.  
He looks taken back by my comment before getting up as well, “I know you don’t mean that-“  
“Raul, I do. It would never work between us. You need to move on.”  
“You’ve just gone through a traumatic experience, you’re not thinking straight. Just stay the night and –“ how could he even suggest that? What has gotten into him lately?  
“I think I should go.” I say before going to the door.  
“Please.” He pleads but I’m too scared to hear him say those 3 words again, so I leave without another word.

Right now, I’m currently homeless on the dauntless compound. Which is slightly counter intuitive of me being here in the first place. I wonder through the corridors with a list of people in my head of who I could possibly go to. Which is fairly short. Four or Christina. Logically I go to Fours first as it’s only just down the other end of the corridor. 

I knock briskly on the door 3 times, hoping that gives him enough time to get to the door. But there was no answer. So, I knock 3 times again.  
This time I could hear the locks clicking on the other side of the door between fingers. The door opens but I didn’t want to see the person stood there.  
“What do you want?” Tris scowls. Great.  
“Of course…” I scoff. She still had a scar on her face from our scrap, which gives me a sense of pride. “Is four here?” I ask as curtly as I could manage. She looks at me for a second clearly pondering how to respond before giving me an eye roll.  
“Four, there’s a rat here to see you.” She shouts back into the apartment before giving me a sarcastic smile which I return.  
Four appears in the door way with a slightly surprised look on his face. I suppose it’s not like me to come knocking on his door anymore.  
“Taura, what is it?” He sighs, letting tris move out the way. Lucky her. I feel a bit of anxiety about what I’m about to ask.  
“Um I’m kind of in a bit of a dilemma.” I tell him.  
“Go on.”  
“Well, you were right about Peter. He lied to me and… stuff so I can’t go to his. And me and Raul have kind of clashed heads, so I can’t go there. I was wondering if I could maybe stay the night here?”  
He stares at me for a while before responding, “You know I would usually be okay with you staying, but don’t you think tonight’s not the right time considering you and…. You know… don’t get along.” I had a feeling that would be his answer.  
“Yeah um course” I respond.  
“Sorry.”  
“It’s fine, do you know where Christina lives by any chance?”  
“Um yeah… 286.” He responds as I turn to walk away, muttering a subtle ‘thank you’. “Taura.” He calls, making me turn around “stay safe.”


	12. chapter 9:3

I weave myself back through the corridors, not really paying much attention to where I was going. My body seemed to bypass that I was meant to be going to Christina’s and instead walked its way towards the roof. I couldn’t think straight, there were so many things going through my mind. My life is becoming more of a disaster every day, and I must find someone to help me get out of it before I cave. 

I force the bolt to the roof door open, it squeaked due to the rustiness. My hand left the bolt with a layer of mud and goopy water, clearly this door is a bit out of service. I just wipe the muck from my hand onto the back of my shorts, something I had to do quite a lot in Amity. I begin to push the door open, but it’s swung back for me. And stood in front of me was someone I really didn’t want to be face to face with.  
“Peak- a – boo.” Sam sniggers, his lips curling upwards. Today has to be my worst nightmare. My stomach churns and I wish I changed my outfit; Peters shirt doesn’t quite provide enough protection from prying eyes.   
“I’ve been looking all over for you.” He seethes, and I probably should start running, but I know there’s no point. I decide to be brave and stick with it.  
“That’s nice, but can I get past please.” I say with as much as a smile as I could master. No matter how many acting classes I took in Amity, I don’t think I can ever fully master a fake smile. His brown eyes ponder on my face for a while before stepping to the side slightly.   
“Sure.” His smile moves to something more devil like. I begin to move cautiously past him when I probably should have sprinted. An arm comes up to my throat, pushing me back against the wall. The bricks scrape against my back and I could feel the corners pressing into my scalp.   
“I didn’t hear a thank you. No one teach you any manners huh?” He growls, forcing his arm into my throat. I would try and escape, however an attacking hold like this isn‘t the easiest to overcome in my experience.  
“My mother told me not to say thank you to cowards like you.” I spit, and I suppose that wasn’t the answer he was looking for.  
“You have a big mouth for a small girl.” His arm presses harder into my throat and I start to see dancing spots. I hear a flick and see a Swiss Army knife appear in his hand. The type only maniacs carry around. The type my father carries around. “I bet that’s one reason why your mother killed herself.” He sneers with a slight chuckle on his lips. What an ass.  
“How dare you-“I was about to throw an insult until something got in my mind. “W-why do you know about that?” I ask cautiously, and his grip loosens slightly so I take in as much air while I had the chance.  
“I have my fingers in many pies.” He smiles. Isn’t that exactly what my father told me? Of course.  
“You know my father, don’t you?” I bewilder. I should have known I would never escape him. Everywhere I go he has sets of eyes watching me and feeding him information. I’m a bit like a lab rat.  
“You’re not as smart as they say you are.” I furrow my eyebrows, confused about the situation. “Now I’m not here to chit chat. I’m here to warn you.” He slides his arm left so the knife sits firmly against the bottom of my chin. This isn’t going to be good. “Up until… let’s say… an hour ago, I was up for promotion. And then Max informed that he had spoke to a female that had a few complaints to make about me. Now I have no promotion. And that makes me really really unhappy.”  
“Surprised he even wanted to hire you.”  
“Oh… you see that’s the kind of smart mouthed attitude that keeps landing you bother now isn’t it?” I would chat back, but I know he’s not wrong. “Why would you even bother trying to press charges, the evidence actually stacks against you.”  
“How? You assaulted me. I don’t think it can be more complicated than that?”  
“Did I though?” He says menacingly. “I mean from my memory… you showed no objections to coming with me, you even at one point consented. You know, you were also pretty stoned off who knows what… so under the law you technically have no right to press charges against me.” He smiles. He’s not wrong, and this is why I didn’t want to come forward in the first place.   
“You shouldn’t be able to get away with this.”  
“And yet I have, and I will every single time.” I feel his other hand grope my leg, a move I strongly reject but can’t do anything about.  
“What do you mean?”  
“Have you noticed recently, how I control everything you do and the way you react? For example, you won’t give anything away about me to anyone when I’m around and you won’t even try and fight me back.” He’s not lying. “Well that’s not going to stop. Your mine now.” He spits, “I’m going to make your life a living hell until I get that promotion. Even if that means taking you down brick by brick until your nothing more than a cloud of dust. You had some nerve just showing up here and acting like your boss and I’m going to show you how your appearance and disappearance will never mean anything to anyone. Just like your-“   
“Hey! Get off of her!” A voice calls. I snap my head back down the corridor to see Eric jogging towards us. It wasn’t until Eric got within 5metres of us that Sam finally slipped his knife back into his pocket. I found my opportunity to push him off of me into the opposite wall just as Eric grabbed him by the collar. Why was he being so protective? I just stayed pinned to the wall in confusion and shock, gasping for air.  
“Taura, go!” Eric shouts at me but I’m too stunned to move. “Run!” He shouts again, and I take his hint, moving down the corridor.  
“She can try, but she won’t out run me!” Sam spits more at me than Eric as I stumble down the corridor.  
“You sick bastard!” Is the last thing I year from Eric before the corridors are filled with the sound of punches.

“Can I help you?” A rather snobby young woman sat behind the desk asks me. After running through the corridors for a while I decide I should probably thank Eric for helping me out. Yeah, I don’t know what’s came other me either. The woman occupied an office desk opposite a row of chairs and at the end of the hall 5 rooms, presumably an office for each of the leaders.  
“Uh yeah... I wanted to talk to Eric. I know he’s-“   
“He’s not here right now.” She states curtly.  
“Yeah I know, that’s what I was going to say.” I respond.  
“Do you have an appointment?” She asks demandingly, much to my despair.  
“No, I don’t. It’s just kind of a fly in visit you see.” I try to reason.  
“You can’t see him unless you make an appointment.”  
“Well can I make an appointment?” I say through a tightened jaw.  
“I’m sorry but you have to give at least a day’s notice.” She gives me a fake smile which I return.  
“Can I at least sit and wait for him to return?” I signal to the seats behind me.  
“I think Mr Coulter will be too busy for a girl like you.” The nerve!  
“Why you little-“  
“Is there a problem?” I turn to see Eric walking towards us.   
“Yes” I growl.  
“This thing here is adamant about speaking with you, sir, but I told her that you would be rather too busy to have time for her.” The woman spoke proudly. What a bitch.  
“Well, do I have anything in my schedule?” Eric asks powerfully, and I see the woman’s face sink. Making mine rise.  
“Um… no, sir.”  
“And do i have any paperwork?” The woman scutters around her desk.  
“No, sir.”  
“Well then I’m not busy, am I?” He rolls his eyes before moving to open his office door. I take the hint and making my way into his office, making sure to flip off the lovely receptionist. I wish she could see her own face right now. 

Every time I had been in Eric’s office, it wasn’t necessarily for the best of reasons, so it’s rather nice to be here and not have a massive weight on my shoulders.   
“She’s a bit of a bitch.” I inform him harshly. His lips turn upwards and he giggles slightly.  
“Yeah, almost like someone else I know.” He smirks at me. And I raise an unimpressed brow at him. Rude. “I’m joking Taura.” He says. Eric doesn’t joke, does he?   
“Not like you to joke.”   
“Yeah, well I must be in a good mood.” He says, sitting in the leather chair behind his desk and twiddling a pen between his fingers.  
“Again, not like you to-“   
“Oh, be quiet.” He sniggers letting the silent chuckle sit on his lips for a while. This is starting to get weird. I’m concerned for his health. “Are you alright by the way?” He queries, the once in a while expression quickly fades bringing me back to reality.  
“Well, a bit shaken but yeah I’m used to it by now.”  
“What do you mean?” He pokes at one of my sour spots.  
“It doesn’t matter.” I shake my head dismissively and he rightfully decides not to push on. “Thank you by the way, I don’t know what would of happened if you didn’t – Well i do know what would of happened but you know what I-“  
“Woah hold on, why are you thanking me?”   
He grimaces, waving a hand at me bringing a wave of confusion over me.  
“Because you saved me from a bit of a tricky situation-“  
“You don’t need to thank me. We’re Dauntless, looking out and protecting each other is what we’re supposed to do. It’s in everyone’s job title.” What a tonne of bull.  
“Really because I’ve not really had that impression?” I say honestly.  
“Unfortunately, what we’re supposed to do isn’t always what we do do.” Eric says almost saddened. “Sit.” He motions towards a chair opposite him which I take. “Sam, along with many others who were part of our army in the civil war, seemed to have radicalised themselves. Forming almost a cult of rogues.”   
“What do you mean?”  
“Well, they follow all the rules and conducts but to a more twisted extreme level and then enforce them on others. Almost like a terrorist cell.” Terrorists?  
“Have they ever…?-“ I start, not quite sure how to finish.  
“Committed an act of terrorism?” I guess he caught on. “Depends how you look at it. But I would say making young women fear their lives and any man that walked the earth classes as terrorism, don’t you?”  
“Tricky question to ask a victim.” I say.   
“You don’t seem to be phased by any of it?” Yeah, I don’t seem to be. But I am, very much so, just learnt how to hide it well over the years.  
“I was at one point, but I’ve learnt how to deal with it.” I lie. No matter how many times I can go through it, it will always be as painful as the last.  
“Putting on a brave face?”   
“Men like that, use weaknesses for their strengths. As soon as they spot a weakness that’s when they strike and use it against you.” That’s not a lie. They’re surprisingly clever and canny, knowing when to pick their moments.  
“Is that something you learnt back in Amity?” That Erudite-like questioning is what makes Eric so intimidating. It’s like sitting an exam.  
“Hmm only from the best.”   
“You don’t need to act so placid about this all Taura. This is something you should be upset about.”  
“That’s what I keep being told. But if I get upset about it bad things will happen. Like for example, I got upset about the other night. Peter thought it was okay to try to deal with it for me and now Sams never going to leave me alone.” Erics face sinks slightly.  
“I can set up a restraining order against Sam.” He suggests.  
“Oh god no.”  
“Why the fuck not? He won’t be allowed anywhere near you; won’t that take away half the problems?”   
“And several others wouldn’t pop up in his place? Until I have a restraining order against the whole of Dauntless including you.” Eric looks rather baffled with still no emotion on his face.  
“I’m not sure I understand.”  
“I’m pretty sure Sams receiving instructions from someone outside. Who knows who else is tangled up in the web.”   
“Sorry?”  
“Oopsy Daisy I think I’ve said too much.” I giggle involuntarily.   
“I’m not sure you have. Carry on.” As much as I would like to, I fear my father is watching my every move and I’m not sure I want to say anything that could put anyone at risk.  
“Are there any security camera’s in here?” I ask, trying to determine my next move.  
“Not that I know of. Taura if you know something- “   
“If I say anything else you might end up dead, now we don’t want that do we?” I warn him, in more of a sinister tone than I was going for. I’m not lying, if I say anything my father doesn’t want anyone knowing, he could end up dead along with me and anyone else Eric told.  
“So, I’m a target?” He half laughs, probably in disbelief of what I’m telling him. He probably doesn’t even believe me. That might be a good thing.  
“Not yet you aren’t.” I say.  
“Your lying, you’re just telling me this to stop me asking questions.” He’s not entirely wrong. But the questions he asks carry the answers that could put him danger.  
“I wish I was, Eric.” He looks blankly at me but I could tell he’s suppressing an itch of anxiousness. I guess it’s not everyday you get told there’s some loony serial killer out to kill you. “Look, in relations to this terrorist cell, this isn’t an inside job or a group of Dauntless who studied the wrong page of a textbook. This is someone outside, who’s using the Dauntless like pawns and puppets to achieve what they want.”   
“How can you be certain of that? We haven’t had anyone break into the compound.”  
“Seriously Eric, have you heard of a phone?” He gives me a disgruntled look, but then dismisses it when he knows I’m right.  
“Even so, we log every phone call so if there was anything dodgy, we would know.”  
“And you don’t think at least one person can worm their way around that? And if not, we’re allowed any where within the city into any compound. Whereas not many people in the other factions can get out, we can get in. Maybe someone from inside another faction is using us against ourselves.” Eric ponders on that idea for a while, clearly taking it in to consideration. “Im not giving you the answer Eric because I’m not sure of it myself, I’m just giving you ideas. God forbid if I told you the answer, we’d all be in a slaughter house.”  
“Dauntless is turning into a slaughter house. How do you know all this?”   
“That’s a story for another day, in a room with no cameras maybe.” I laugh slightly, stroking the side of my arm which still had a few bruises. Eric just raises an inquisitive brow at me.  
“Just out of curiosity Taura, how exactly did you get out of Amity?” His question was a little vague, although I do know what he’s asking, I decide to blur around the edges.  
“I caught the first train out from amity, went straight to- “  
“No, I don’t mean that. How did you make it in as a late initiate? We’re strictly forbidden to allow it under any circumstance.” I smile at his comment. So naïve. I sit for a minute in silence, observing the walls while I ponder what to say. If I tell him, he could tell the wrong person and then someone in Amity might find out. But something makes me want to trust him. After all, he did just save my skin the least I could do is answer some –more- of his questions.  
“Can I trust you?” I ask smugly, seeming to catch Eric off guard.  
“Taura, anything that’s said in this room, stays in this room.” He responds, repeating what he had told me earlier when he first started to take an interest in my life. “I told you that before, right?” He looks at me pointedly.  
Triumphantly I say, “Good, I guess I can trust you then, at least I hope.”


	13. chapter 10:1

~ flashback ~  
I had to get out of here now, even if I come back, I can’t be here when Adam gets back. I pick the cover of the duvet off me, it was covered in stains which were unidentifiable. I move to sit on the edge of the bed and it creaked as I did so. Picking up my shorts from off the floor I slipped them over my legs, which were laced with bruises, just as the smell of cannabis and rotten alcohol filled my nose. The red crop top I put on luckily covered most of the bruises on my torso. 

I didn’t make any money last night. Adam wanted 600 from the guy who was lucky enough to ‘have a go’. But it turned out he wasn’t interested in making a bid, just in having his way with me. If Adam returns asking for the 600, and I hand him nada, I dread to think what would happen.   
So, I did the only thing plausible, I tip toed quietly round to end of the bed as I didn’t want to wake a sleeping customer. Picking up his jeans and finding the back pocket, I take his wallet and shove it into my back pocket.   
I had to make my escape and fast. The man who was sprawled on the bed started to stir and I begin to frantically find an easy escape.  
There’s a square window at the far side of the room which I’m sure I could squeeze out of. I run to it on the balls of my feet trying to make sure the floorboards wouldn’t creak, or my toes get caught in the gaps and trip me over.  
I unlock the hatch to the window and it creaked slightly, waking up my ‘customer’. I knew I had to hurry otherwise I could end up dead, or worse.  
I grab the curtain rail, which at one point had a full set of red curtains hanging from them, with both hands; picking my body off the ground allowing me to swing my feet into the window with force, shattering the thin pane of glass. If he wasn’t awake before, he certainly would be now.  
I hold on to the sides of the window Pane for balance as my feet find the roof which slopes downwards.  
“Hey!” The masculine voice of the drunken man called scuttering around in the room I’m leaving behind. Immediately, I let go of the panes, letting my body go into a free fall down the roof. Luckily, I had my feet straight out in front of me, allowing them to get caught in the gutter which in turn helped me regain my balance before jumping the remaining distance to the ground. I look over my shoulder briefly to see the man hot on my tail, following the same route I took out the window. Immediately, I break into a sprint heading deep into the amity forest behind the house, brushing past trees and great long vines.   
I hoped to outrun the man but figures he was ex-dauntless. The athleticism of this bloke wasn’t explainable through being amity born or any other faction for that matter. He was still right behind me at every turn. Once it became evident that there was no way of getting too far from him, I decide it would be a better approach to tire him out. However, the lack of sleep hit me first and my foot carelessly got caught under a fallen tree branch, causing me to fall to the ground.  
The man quickly pounces on me, using any dauntless restraint he could squeeze out of his perverted memory.   
“Get off of me!” I shout, spitting in his face while scrambling to squeeze out of his grip however this man was roughly twice the size of me and his weight kept me firm on the ground.  
“Where’s the money?!” He screams, the cannabis evident in his eyes. I thrash around as he starts grabbing me in weird places, clearly looking for his wallet. “Where?!”  
“You got what you want! The money’s mine!” I shout back. Continuing to thrash about underneath him as one of his hands goes to start groping my lower back and the other goes to his pocket. “Get off me you creep!”  
He pulls out a butcher’s knife from his pocket and presses it into my torso, not too deep but deep enough to cut through quite a few layers of flesh. I screech in agony as the sensation of the cold metal against my insides turns my blood cold. “Where is it? Or I’ll go deeper.” He seethes through a clenched jaw, wiggling the knife around in the wound. I couldn’t let this carry on, the money was no where near as important as other things in my life. “Back pocket.” I groan, and his hand starts rummaging around my shorts, never once removing the knife from my flesh, allowing it to edge deeper.   
He pulls the wallet out of my pocket along with the knife out of my flesh, creating the most painful sense of relief.   
He backs off of me, the alcohol in his system causing him to stumble. “Wretched whore.” He spits at me before stumbling back through the forest towards the main area of the faction.  
~end of flashback~

“Wait so just to be clear, you slept with that man for money?” Eric asks with a raised brow.  
“Essentially, yes.” I say reluctantly with a slight conscience that he will start making insults.  
“So, I was right about you being prostitute?” He scoffs. Knew it.  
“It wasn’t a choice Eric. I didn’t choose to become a prostitute.” I inform him.  
“What so as soon as you started shagging guys, they would just randomly give you money?” He laughs, and I’m tempted to get up and leave.  
“Eric this isn’t a joke.” I spit at him, but he just continues sniggering. “Do you really think a 13-year-old girl just woke up one day and thought ‘hey wouldn’t it be great to sleep with 50-year olds for cash?’” That seems to put him back in his place, his face dipping ever so slightly.  
“13? Wait how old were you when this happened?” He queries.  
“13 was when it started, when I married. But the story Im telling you is when I was 16 or 17. I never asked for any of it.”   
“Hm. I always thought you and Raul had history back in Amity.” He murmurs.  
“We did. Just because I married doesn’t mean I wanted to marry. I was forced into it by my father.” Eric looks at me confused.  
“So, you didn’t actually want to be married and you were sleeping with Raul the entire time?” He asks rather abruptly. But he’s not wrong.  
“Pretty much.” I respond, “I didn’t even know Adam until I woke up on my 13th birthday with a wedding dress in front of me and basically told ‘your marrying a 23-year-old.’”   
“Does Peter know about you and Raul?” He asks. To be honest, it never occurred to me before that he might need to know. Well, he doesn’t need to know now.  
“No. But he doesn’t need to, me and Raul ended it ages ago and besides it was just a fling.” I lie, thinking about mine and Raul’s conversation earlier. Eric raises an eyebrow at me and looked like he wanted to say something but decides not to. “Now are you going to continue asking questions or let me carry on with my story?”

~ flashback ~

I don’t remember blacking out, but I must have done because I definitely wasn’t in the forest any longer. I was now on a small bunker bed, with wooden framing and another bunker attached above it. The room was much cleaner than any I’ve been in, and it leads me to wonder who lived here. I sit up slightly and feel a small aching pain in my abdomen, remembering my wound. Peeling back the blanket, I inspect the site of my injury, which was fortunately now covered in a bandage. Whoever did this certainly wasn’t your average Amity.  
The door opens and closes as a man enters. I couldn’t quite tell if he was older or younger than me but straightaway, I could tell he wasn’t an Amity. He wore amity clothes, sure, but his short brown hair and plump muscles told a different story. I still wasn’t quite sure what was going on. He didn’t really pick up on me until he got closer to the bed, I noticed he was carrying a water bowl and cloth. That’s not for me is it?  
“Hello.” He says with a smile, which I return with half as much enthusiasm. “How are you feeling?” He asks, looking at me with shining green eyes.  
“Um okay, I guess. Was this your doing?” I ask, trying to stick with the amity naiveness.  
“Oh yeah, sorry. I found you in the back forest passed out and injured so I decides to bring you to the safehouses to care for you.” That’s odd. The safehouses are only ever used to house someone who is in extreme danger. He’s not from this faction.  
“What’s your name?” I feel it would be better to use psychology to make him talk rather than straight out asking him.  
“My name is Four.” Definitely not an Amity name and definitely a Dauntless name. “What’s yours?”  
“Taura Daniels. Do you not have a last name?” I ask with a cheeky grin.  
“Not particularly.” He responds, “Your very inquisitive for an amity.” He giggles, placing a cold wet cloth on my forehead and pulling up a chair to sit on next to the bed.  
“You aren’t from round, here are you?”  
“Well, no.” He looks at me like I’m stupid, am I meant to know who he is? “I’m one of the Dauntless that’s hiding out here.” I look at him puzzled. I had no idea there were any Dauntless on the compound. If I’d known I would have befriended them immediately. I could use this ‘Four’ to my advantage.  
“I thought all the Dauntless were burning Abnegation to a stake.”   
“Have you been living under a rock?” He asks harshly, and I look at him blankly. “There was a big meeting under that dome thing where all the amity had to vote whether me and my friends could stay or not.” Well, that explains it.  
“Oh, well I’m not allowed to go to those things so that’s probably why.” I tell him, moving to sit up in the bed, using my palms to raise my body. I feel his palm go to my back, aiding me.   
“Why’s that?” He quizzes.  
“I don’t particularly get along here if I’m honest.” I don’t know why I told a complete stranger that. He seemed to look at me puzzled.  
“Were you Amity born or…?”  
“Amity-born.” I smile.  
“So, if you don’t get along here, why did you chose to stay?”  
“It would have been cowardly to leave.”   
“You speak like a dauntless.” I want to trust this person, he’s Dauntless so he might be able to help me get out of here and into Dauntless but then there’s always that fear that he will tell someone in Amity what’s going on, and then I could be killed.  
“How long are you going to be here for?” I ask.  
“Until it’s safe to leave, and we know where the rest of the Dauntless are.” He replies, seeming to lose himself in thought.  
“Well seen as your going to be here for a while… can you help me?”  
“We only just met and your asking me for help? A complete stranger?” He questions.   
“Well, we don’t get many dauntless on the compound.”   
“Why do you need a Dauntless to help you?” Four chuckles lightly at me. I sit there contemplating what I should say.  
“My aptitude test result was Dauntless, and my plan was to transfer to Dauntless, but I was kind of blackmailed into staying here. And now it’s getting worse.”  
“Are you asking me to get you into dauntless?!” He half yells in shock and I nod lightly. “Oh my god. You do realise that’s impossible, right?” He says harshly.  
“Not entirely. Any faction is permitted to accept a late transfer if there’s sufficient evidence of influence or blackmail.” He raises a dark brow at me while crossing his arms.  
“Yeah, if that evidence is on the level of trafficking then okay maybe!” He shouts sarcastically but he couldn’t be closer to what’s going on. I just sit there in silence with my mouth slightly agape. Four stares at me for a while and then his brows start to furrow into a knot. “Wait, Taura-“my heart jumped into my throat when the door suddenly and in stumbled my drunk husband.   
His greasy brown hair was all messy and tangled and there were beer stains all over his red tank top.  
“What the fuck are you doing here?!” Adam slurred angrily, as he stumbles towards me and four. “Get the fuck out of that bed you slimy little bitch!” He yells and makes a move to grab my arm aggressively but Four moves in front of me, blocking Adam from reaching me.  
“Don’t touch her.” Four demands in Adams face, which definitely isn’t going to go down well.  
“Don’t touch her?! Don’t touch my wife?!” He seethes in drunken anger. Four stares at him in confusion, looking at me briefly.  
“Your wife? She looks like she’s barely finished puberty!” Again, not wrong.  
“So that was your motive for a bringing her here? Oh… well I am sorry my good friend, I didn’t realise you were one of our clients, hahaha.” He slurs, placing a hand on Fours shoulder, which he quickly slaps away. I didn’t want it to come out like this. Four looks a mixture of angry confused and well… angry. “To compensate for my rudeness, I’ll knock $100 off your price… making it $500?” Four looks back at me in total disbelief while I look at him briefly but turn my focus to the floor in shame.  
“No, no no no. While you were off getting slashed with a bottle of vodka, I was taking care of your wife, not fucking her like one of the twisted perverts that pay you for her!”   
I cringe at his words, knowing this won’t end well for me later. Adam scoffs, swaying on his feet.  
“What was she doing to need your care?” Adam spits, before peeling his eyes over fours shoulder at me “you were meant to be working!”  
“Working?! She had a stab wound which no doubt you gave her, she should be resting not working!” Four booms and I couldn’t stand this any longer. Four was bound to get hurt along with myself, and I couldn’t let that happen. I grab Four’s wrist in my hand causing him to break his icy glare from my husbands.  
“Four, it’s okay. I’m okay.” I give him a certain look as if to say, ‘I need your help, I’m not okay but you need to stop.’ His breathing slows and his eyes search mine for something but who knows what.   
“Taura, darling.” Adam smiles at me menacingly. I guess he’s calling me ‘darling’ as a coy to get me to do what he says. “Let’s get you home so you can change out of those nasty bandages and get back to earning some dosh, huh?” I gulp back some anxiety. He didn’t say it sweetly, he said it in a creepy drunken voice which filled me with fear. I let go of Fours wrist and stand up slowly, the pain in my abdomen really kicking in now.  
“Those bandages need to stay on. I don’t think a nasty infection is quite what your ‘clients’ will be looking for.” Four growls lowly much to Adams dislike.  
“Something tells me they wouldn’t quite care.” Adam replies harshly gripping my arm rather to tightly, yanking me towards the door faster than my legs could master right now.  
I turn to look back at Four who had a look of panic and anger on his face. He runs his hands over his face and mouths something to me that was inaudible so I just mouth ‘thankyou’ back to him with a weak smile which he tries to return. But then Adam slams the door shut between us and we could no longer see eachother.  
~ end of flashback ~  
I sat opposite Eric saying nothing, just staring at my hands while he stared at me analytically. I daren’t carry on with my tale because I don’t think I want to even re-tell it my self, at least not right now.   
“Taura.” Eric says quietly, almost anxiously. “When I said those things to you before about… you know-“  
“Being a prostitute?” I cut him off.  
“Yeah that. And the rest of it. When I said that shit… I didn’t understand.” For the first time, I saw a look of guilt and shame in Eric’s face, something I don’t think anyone’s had the pleasure of seeing.  
“It’s okay, it was just one of them things you know.” I shrug off the situation  
“No, it’s not! What he did to you and what he is doing to you is wrong.” I feel a tear roll down my cheek. “You can’t let him – them – get a way with how they treated you. You can’t let Sam get away with how he’s treating you. It’s sick. It’s inappropriate. It is wrong.” Eric lectures me, I don’t know whether I needed to hear that or not. I didn’t want to, but I suppose he’s not wrong. I feel a knot in my chest and more tears trickle down my face which I wipe away.   
“Even if I did, the evidence stacks against me, they would throw me in confinement instead.”   
“No, they wouldn’t. There’s no excuse for what their doing Taura. It’s abuse.”  
“But that’s how the law works, Eric.” I try to smile. “Even if it is unfair.” Eric seems at a loss for words just staring at me blankly with that emotionless expression he usually wears.   
“I can’t let this carry on Taura, I won’t let this carry on. I’m not letting some lowlife prick who has no morals, drive someone with so so much potential into darkness.” Eric sounds angry. Almost like this scandal is a wound re-opened or a new one driving a wedge in him because he knows this place is changing. “Not to you.” I gulp back a lump in my throat.  
“You have to. Anything you do will make it worse. There’s nothing anyone can do. We both need to come to terms with that.” I sigh, slightly frustrated and slightly too saddened to be frustrated. I think Eric had ran out of things to say to persuade me, he just sat there in an awkward silence.  
“Im going to restart your training as of Monday. I think you’ve proved yourself in terms of hand to hand combat and knife throwing. Even if I don’t want to admit it. You know the drill, don’t be late.”


	14. chapter 10:2

I’m not sure why, but ever since I left Eric my head has been in a whirl, I don’t know where I’m going or what to do, there’s tears running down my face and I’m shaking, and I’m lost. Maybe it’s the pain of having to relive the past that I lived through for so long or the fact that someone I thought wanted me dead, was now helping me.

I end up at the one place that I thought I would stay away from for a while. But even though I’m supposed to be mad at him, something has once again drawn me back to him.  
Peters apartment.  
I knock on the door hesitantly, wondering whether he would be in or not. The silence of the corridor was deafening and the longer I waited the worse the silence got and the faster my heart beats. I was about to walk away when the door opens, and a rather surprised Peter was presented to me.  
“Um… Taura… hey.” He stutters quietly, gulping at my presence and I see the guilt in his eyes, which makes me feel guilty for earlier.  
“I’m sorry, for what I did.” I mumble, looking at the floor.   
“No, I deserved it. I should of spoke to you.” He says and I nod slightly. “Do you want to come in?” He asks with a small smile.  
“Please.” I respond and he lets me walk past him, closing the door behind us. I don’t know why I felt so awkward, but I just stand in the middle of the apartment out of place as Peter watches me.  
“Are you alright?” He asks me calmly, moving closer and I feel tears prick my eyes.  
“No.” I shake my head but my voice was so quiet as I feel yet more tears fall from my eyes. Peter had moved so he was directly infront of me and began stroking my left arm.  
“Well what do you want to do?” He asks me, which took me by surprise. “We can do what you like, go for a walk, sit and eat pizza, get drunk whatever.” He pulls a small smile to my lips and I briefly consider his options but I all I wanted to do was lay down and forget about everything.  
“I think I’m just going to go to bed, I’m a bit tired.” I say quietly, scraping my foot on the floor. Peter looks at me sympathetically before pulling a smile to his face which faded before pushing some of my hair behind my ear.  
“Okay. You do that, do you want a drink of anything, or something to eat?” He smiles down at me, but I avoid eye contact with him, not wanting him to see me like this again. But I know that’s an impossible task, he was Candor, he can see right through me.  
“I’m fine, thank you though.” I say before walking to his bedroom and collapsing on his bed, burying my head in his pillow, and breathing in his cologne and I instantly burst into tears. My life is an utter hell.

Peter’s POV

I had left her on her own for an hour now. I felt like that’s what she needed, to be left to cool off however her unusual quietness and awkwardness worried me slightly. She’s not the Taura I know.  
I sat at the kitchen island, drinking a bottle of water and contemplating the past events. I know I’m the reason for her change in mood, I gave the footage to Eric. Eric made her talk. And now she’s like this. Sleeping everything away. I feel terrible.  
My phone, that was sat in my jacket pocket began to ring loudly. I pull it out my pocket, confused because it’s rare anyone ever calls me. ‘No Caller ID’ was written over the screen as it continues. This is even stranger.  
I click the little green phone and place it next to my ear. “Hello?” I say tentatively down the phone.  
“Why are you such a sick bastard?!” Came the voice down the phone, and it’s easily recognizable as Four. Great. He must have found out.  
“Um...” I stammer, not having chance to come up with a logical response.  
“Taura came to me earlier, after both you and Raul had fallen out with her.” He informed me rather aggressively. She fell out with Raul? I thought he was supporting her?   
“Wait Raul fell out Taura?”  
“Yes, but I’m not mad at him, quite frankly I’m not certain what it was about. But I warned you not to hurt her!”   
“What did she say to you… exactly?” I ask him, making sure I start making the right excuses.  
“She didn’t say anything. But Eric rang me just now and told me everything.”   
“Look I know what I did was wrong, but you saw the CCTV footage as well –“  
“Yeah I saw the footage! But I did fuck all with it! The last thing I was going to do was take it to leadership you idiot.” He shouts down the phone, making me feel even more guilty.  
“Alright, I already feel awful enough, you don’t need to rub it in Four,” I groan, “did she tell them?”   
“No, she left when they started interrogating her. Thank god, the types of things they would have asked!” That’s a relief. However, worries me slightly. If she’s not upset about that, then what the hell has happened?  
“I get it, look I apologised and we’re okay now so you can stop having a go at me.” I scoff, really wanting to end this lecture.  
“Is she with you?”   
“Yeah, she came to me.” I say with slight triumph in my words.  
“Is she okay?” I would have said yes so he would shut up. But this time, I probably shouldn’t lie, I could do with Fours advice.  
“No, not particularly.” I sigh.  
“She didn’t tell you?” Four asked with a bemused voice.  
“She hasn’t really said much. It’s worrying me, was she meant to tell me something?”   
“I think you should talk to her. Eric told me something you’re not going to like.” He says more calmly, but I become more panicked.  
“What is it?”   
“Eric found Sam threatening Taura. He had a knife to her neck and was groping her leg. Eric got him off her but apparently she was rather unsettled, as you would expect.” Fuck! I felt anger pace through me as I turned to look at the door Taura was behind. As soon as I get my hands on him, he is dead meat.  
“Are you kidding me?! When will he stop?!”  
“He won’t. And Taura knows that. She spoke to Eric afterwards. Look, don’t freak out. At least not at Taura or in front of her. She will act strong, but she’s terrified of him. She won’t talk to me, but she will talk to you. Just please look after her.” Four tells me directly. I understand what he means, there’s something much darker going on than just a sexual assault – which is already dark enough – and Taura knows exactly what is, and I can’t imagine how awful that must be, knowing that someone/s have an agenda against you.  
“I will.” I say with a gulp before hanging up. I stand there, against the kitchen island not really sure how to feel. A mixture of anger, guilt, confusion and pain. It was awful. I wanted just to scream. I grip the phone tighter before throwing it across the room in anger, watching it skid across the floor.  
“Fuck!” I curse to myself trying to let the anger out.

I let myself cool off for the next 30 minutes, knowing that I should talk to Taura and that whatever she’s feeling is a hell of a lot worse than the emotions I’m feeling. And I had to remember that. I can’t let her see me cave, I have to be strong for her now.

I push my bedroom door open, expecting to hear either complete silence or the quiet sounds of slumber. But I hear neither. Instead, I heard faint sobs and rasped breathing coming from the rather drained figure of my girlfriend. She was lied face down on the bed, her face buried into the pillow with her hands draped loosely above her head weakly gripping the corners of the case fabric. She wasn’t under the duvet, in fact the duvet looked untouched, she just lied flat atop of the bed with her left leg slightly arched which caused my shirt to rise to her hips. Her legs were left exposed, the bruised and scratched flesh visible, making her skin look slightly dull. She was beautiful, yet a wreck. A beautiful wreck. And I felt unadulterated love yet sorrow for this girl.

I close the door behind me, and sit next to her on the bed, resting my back against the head rest, looking down at her figure, watching her shoulders shake with her sobs. She hadn’t seemed to recognise my presence, not stirring or looking at me, even briefly.  
“So, you’re awake?” I say gently, nudging her arm with my elbow lightly. She stops sobbing suddenly, and raises her head from the pillow, allowing me to see her face. And the sight destroyed me.  
Her face was red, and tear stained with strands of her black hair dampened and stuck to her face with tears. But looking into her eyes was the worst part. They weren’t the emerald green I was used to, instead they were dull and emotionless, her eyelids swollen and red. ”Did you sleep at all?” I ask her gently, swiping a strand of her hair off her pretty face. I learnt in Candor that sometimes the best way to approach someone about their feelings, is to first not approach them at all. Make them feel safe and comfortable.  
She drops her head back onto the pillow and began sobbing more loudly this time. I end up lying down on my side facing her, rubbing her back softly with my hand, trying my best to comfort her.  
“Awh babe, shhh, it’s okay, you let it out.” I whisper to her before kissing her ear lightly through her hair. “Guessing you never actually went to sleep huh? I’m sorry, I should of came and checked on you earlier, I thought it would have been best to let you cool off yourself for a bit.” I tell her, but she doesn’t respond just continues to sob which is okay, if this is what she needs then I will let her cry with no questions.  
She rolled over onto her side, so she was facing me still with tears streaming from her eyes. My hand had moved from her back to the side of her waist, but I continue to gently rub her muscles. I give her a smile, the best I could master, attempting to show her that it’s going to be okay, although I’m not sure how true that really is. “There’s that pretty face I came in here looking for.” I tell her flirtingly, brushing the rest of the hair off her face along with a few stray tears and then placing a kiss to her forehead.   
“I-I-I…” she stammers, trying to find words to say to me.  
“Shhh, it’s okay. You don’t need to say anything to me yet. Just relax Apples.” I give her a reassuring smile and she wraps her arms around my chest, pulling her self against me. I do the same, I wrap my arms around her waist tightly, pressing her body further against mine, giving her the security she needed.  
“I-I’m scared.” She gasps through sobs rather quietly like she was embarrassed to say it. She shouldn’t be, I’m not going to judge her. “I’m so scared of him.” Taura repeated and I immediately know who she’s talking about, but I won’t assume and put words in her mouth.  
“Scared of who?” I ask gently back to her.  
“S-sam.” She hiccups, balling my shirt into her hands and I do the same with the shirt she was wearing.  
“Why’s that?” I ask, but immediately mentally slap myself for asking a question with such an obvious answer.  
“He-He’s going to kill me.” She begins crying loudly. I have to admit, that wasn’t the exact answer I was expecting. What the hell did he say to her.  
“Shhhh, shhh. No, he’s not, not on my watch.” I sooth, but even I feel little comfort in my own words.  
“He is!” She says more desperately, and I realise how desperately frightened she is.  
“No, Apples he’s not-“   
“You don’t understand!” She raises her head from my chest, and I give her a confused look. “He knows my father.” She says quietly before returning her head to my chest. A sudden realization hit me over the situation. This was an outside job. And Sam is their pawn.   
I was about to ask her how he knew Moriarty, but then remembered that she doesn’t know that I know who her father is.   
“How… do you know that?”  
“He was here.” She says, her frail body trembling lightly again.  
“Who was?” I ask.  
“My dad. In this apartment.” She says and I feel my facial expression change. In my apartment? It all kind of makes sense now. Sams run in with Taura that morning. The door lock. The seizure. The drugs. All to weaken her and make her vulnerable so Moriarty could get to her. Just like Raul said.  
“Taura, who is your father?” I ask cautiously and she looks at me frightened.  
“If I tell you, you can’t tell anyone.” She tells me firmly, locking eyes with me.  
“I promise, no one will know.” I brush a hand into her hair.  
“He- He’s…” she pauses to take a deep breath, “Moriarty.” She presses her head back to my chest as I cradle her.  
Even though this wasn’t new news to me, I had to act surprised.  
“As in James Moriarty?”  
“Yes.”  
“Oh okay…” I mutter, trying my best to act shocked. Then I realised this was probably the best time to get the story out of her. “Apples, I want you to tell me everything.” I whisper to her gently and I feel her body go stiff, “Listen, listen. I want you to tell me what happened when Moriarty was here, and I want you to tell me exactly what happened with Sam earlier. And, so it’s fair, I will listen and not say anything until you want me to, and I’m not going to judge you or freak out no matter how bad what your going to tell me is. I’m here to help you, but you’ve got to let me in.” I try to make her feel comfortable so she will actually tell me. She pulls herself out of my grip and rolls back onto her back, I move to lean over her slightly, so I always had my eyes on her. She seemed hesitant at first but then placed a hand on the bicep of my arm, which I kept over her waist, and gave me a week smile.  
“Okay.” 

“He told me that he would get away with it every single time because I’m his and he can control how I act.” She tells me, with now numb and dry expressions. “And the scariest thing is that he’s not wrong.” She looks at me, in my eyes briefly.  
“Not wrong about what? That he can control you?” I ask carefully, stroking a hand over the side of her face and analysing her expressions. She nods faintly and I sigh slightly, not too sure how to respond. “I don’t think he can control you.”  
“He knows everything, Peter. Everything.” I can’t tell her she’s wrong, because she’s not. Based on what’s she’s told me, he does know. Probably more than even she knows.  
“I know, I know he does.” I say, biting my lip.  
“Maybe he won’t kill me, but he has the ability to make my life a hell, ruin me and run me out this place. And that’s the scariest part about it, because no one can do anything about it.” It hurts to hear her speak like this. But it hurts even more to know that I’m almost powerless in this situation.  
“No ones going to run you out of here. You’re not going anywhere, I don’t care who I have to kill.” I inform her firmly, although still pull a smile. It’s true, I would kill anyone if it means she’s safe. Even Raul.  
“I should have never come here, it was a mistake.” She says, looking down at her hands.  
“If you didn’t come here, I would still be the same messed up perverted douchebag I was 2 weeks ago.” I giggle lightly, hoping to cheer her up.  
“You still are a douchebag.” She raises an eyebrow with a small smirk, moving one of her hands to caress the skin of my cheek which sends shivers around my body.  
“Okay, maybe, but I’m still less of a douchebag. Besides, you belong here, heart and head your dauntless. No matter what anyone tells you.” I reassure her truthfully, but she gives me a funny look.  
“I don’t know…” she sighs.  
“Oh come on, you’re a complete badass!” I boast with a grin, eliciting a short laugh out of her which was good to see. I loved these moments with her, actually I love every moment with her, but those when I could tease her and make her feel good about her self and see her smile; were the best. However, moments like this don’t last and it’s not long until I’m reminded of the worry and concern I have for her right now. She is not herself, and clearly hasn’t been for a while.

“I forgot to mention, Eric is restarting my training, as of tomorrow.” She mentions almost passively but slightly more cheerfully. Restarting her training now seems a little odd, it’s not been nearly enough recovery time from her seizure and if Eric’s so aware of the incidents going on in her life, surely, he would know it’s probably not a good idea putting her under that much pressure?  
“Really, already? Are you sure you’re up for that?” I ask with a worried expression.  
“Yeah, I mean, Im not in any pain or discomfort from my seizure anymore and it would be a bit of a distraction from everything I suppose.” She smiles, truly convinced with what she was saying. I gulp back some anxiety I had over the situation before pressing a tender kiss to her lips.  
“You shouldn’t push yourself too much, you need the rest as well.” I say as I pull away from her, admiring her face and beauty, “but if your okay with it, then I am too. I think it’s incredibly brave that your able to get back up on your feet and give Sam a big ‘fuck you’.” I smirk half heartedly before pressing my lips back to hers.  
She pulls away from me this time, “are you working tomorrow?” She asks me.  
“No, which makes my day even worse because you won’t be here to keep me entertained.” I pout slightly, pulling an exaggerated moody expression at her.  
“Well maybe we should do something when I’ve finished.” She suggests, which catches me by surprise.  
“Like what?” I smirk, wrapping my arms underneath her and around her waist, pulling her against me.  
“Why don’t you leave that to me?” She smiles with a devilish look in her eyes which puts butterflies in my stomach.  
“I can’t tell if I like or dislike where this is going.” I laugh   
“You’ll have to wait and see then.”


End file.
